Intersecting Lines: The Trial
by unicorn1111
Summary: This sidebar story to Intersecting Lines covers the trial of the corrupt cops caught by Jane, Maura and their friends and colleagues. Helping prosecute the case is Alex Cabot on secondment from New York. Expect fireworks as the Defence, with nothing else to work with, throws as much mud as they can while the rest of the country watches, including some very familiar faces.
1. Chapter 1

**Foreword**

Hi everyone, welcome to this sidebar story to Intersecting Lines Book 3.

 **For the casual reader**

This story is an addendum to the Intersecting Lines 'verse, covering a major thread running through the first two books and into the third; the hunting down of a group of corrupt LAPD officers who were acting as paid assassins for a Mexican cartel.

Jane and Maura, initially on secondment to the LAPD to escape the relentless scrutiny of their relationship in Boston, were instrumental in closing the case against the corrupt officers, together with Jane's boss, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, and her friend, later partner, Commander Sharon Raydor (The Closer), and the FBI liaison officer to the LAPD Anastasia Romanov and her partner Natalie Dearing, the LAPDs media spokesperson.

With the suspects arrested, Maura and Jane have now permanently moved to Los Angeles to build a life there with their friends, while the case has come to trial and will be prosecuted by Andrea Hobbs of the LA District Attorney's office and Jane and Maura's close friend Alex Cabot (Law & Order SVU) who, together with her lover Olivia Benson, have recently taken a secondment in Los Angeles from New York.

While part of the larger Intersecting Lines universe and referring back to events that happened in that story, this story does stand somewhat apart from the rest and can be read alone and, I hope, can be enjoyed in isolation.

 **For regular readers**

This originally formed part of Intersecting Lines Book 3 but grew rapidly, to the point that it was overshadowing the first half of that story and chewing up a huge amount of chapters which I will need later to properly tell that tale.

In the interests of making sure Book 3 delivers a satisfying story I have therefore decided to split this off to one side where it can grow as necessary to bring the whole Witsec case to a conclusion.

This basically picks up around Chapter 28 of Intersecting Lines Book 3 and runs parallel to that story.

I hope you enjoy it.

 **Author's Note:** As I'm neither a lawyer nor a legal expert nor a resident of either California or the US my understanding of US trial law is at best a layman's one, so please excuse any legal lapses. As for how the cast behaves, well this is a story based on television shows, with television cops, television lawyers and television trials. Their aim is entertainment, not authenticity and the same applies here.

 **Intersecting Lines** **–** **The Trial**

 **01** **–** **The Prosecution Opens**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

We'd taken particular care with our appearance, this first day of the WitSec trial, the better to give the jurors a positive impression, plus keep Judge Craven off our backs, given his well-known and quite deplorably sexist attitudes.

Andrea was wearing a elegant deep blue skirt suit with matching three-inch heel pumps and a crisp white blouse, her pale ash-blonde hair flowing loosely over her shoulders, while I'd gone with one of my nicest suits, a tailored knee-length charcoal pin stripe skirt suit and a flowing white blouse that sat carefully in the v of the jacket. My hair was nicely waved following a session with my new stylist on the weekend, courtesy of a recommendation from Natalie, and I'd gone with a pair of dark-rimmed glasses. The ensemble was set off by a patent leather set of matching charcoal stilettoes that had met with Liv's enthusiastic approval when I'd walked out in them this morning.

Speaking of Liv, she and Mikki Mendoza were in the hall outside the office we were currently waiting in; they'd been assigned as our protectors for the duration of the case, with us when we were outside the court and watching over the public gallery behind us while court was in session. I'd thought it a bit extreme but Brenda had insisted and I'd acquiesced, not that I had any choice in the matter, she'd put her foot down and that was that. So we'd be watched over by our respective lovers for the duration.

In a way it would be interesting; like Andrea I'd never had my better half in to watch me through a whole case before, something Liv had commented on as we drove in this morning, she was looking forward to me turning on a 'good show' as she put it. I'd just rolled my eyes at her teasing but honestly I was just glad to have her with me through what was likely to be a stressful trial. As I smiled to myself in the aftermath of that thought that there was a knock on the door before it opened to reveal our gorgeous protectors standing in the hall outside with a court officer; obviously it was time to get this show on the road.

"It's time" Mikki said, gesturing down the hall towards the lift and the courtroom two levels down as Liv nodded.

"They're ready for you" I smiled at Liv's comment and made an 'after you' gesture to Andrea, getting a lovely smile in return before we grabbed our files and made our way out and down to the courtroom. I didn't miss that both Liv and Mikki were on alert; they took their duties protecting us very seriously, even here in the centre of the court complex, making me feel a little better, a little safer already. We made our way downstairs and into the courtroom, through the public gallery and passed through the barrier to the court proper to get set up on the prosecution table while Mikki and Liv took up places standing at each end of the front row, the better to watch everyone.

We were planning to act as equal co-prosecutors, hoping it would put Peterson and his team a little off balance, something to be desired given our suspicions about their potential tactics. Speaking of the devil, as the thought occurred to me the door opened and in they filed, we turned and watched as Conrad Peterson and his team of attorneys got spread out and set up across three tables where they'd be sitting with their six clients, Peterson was backed up by Callum Cox and Jacinta Ling and three juniors, making up a team of six, one for each of his clients though I didn't doubt that Peterson, Cox and Ling would do the hard yards, the juniors basically there to chase documents and make up the numbers.

Over the next few minutes the public gallery filled up, as did the jury, all waiting for the judge and the defendants.

Speaking of which here they came; Anthony Di Marco, Luke Farrar, Gerry Kennedy, Joan Hammond and Aiden Powell with Tony Osmond bringing up the rear, led in by a group of the County Sheriff's Deputies who provided security in the court, each defendant wearing a nice suit while Hammond wore a dress that looked like something you'd wear in church, obviously they were trying to look like good, law-abiding citizens to the jury, not that I cared one whit; I'd sent countless well-dressed criminal swine to prison, this lot would be no different. They got themselves sorted out with Osmond sitting at the end, trying for a little distance from his co-conspirators maybe. Andrea leaned in and made that exact comment as I smiled quietly, something about great minds thinking alike.

Before I could mention that thought though the doors opened again and the last of our defendants strolled in, Julia Humphries. She was stylishly dressed in a tightly-tailored short red skirt suit and matching peep toe stilettoes, She'd obviously spent a lot of time on her appearance and looked very good with her makeup setting off her dead-straight collar-length blonde hair. Escorted in by a deputy, by her side was the state-assigned public defender who'd be trying to keep her off death row; ' _good luck with that_ ' I thought. As Andrea and I watched they made their way to their own separate table, Humphries having made it very clear that she wanted nothing to do with the others.

If one thing worried me it was Humphries, she was the wild card here. She'd refused to cooperate, to say anything in fact; she'd sat through repeated interrogation sessions with Brenda, refusing to say a word. It had frustrated Brenda something fierce, to the point that in her final attempt to get her to open up she'd told Humphries that if that was the way she wanted to play it, she could go to death row without a word spoken, they had enough evidence to send her there without her saying a word. Humphries had apparently just sat there, a half-smile on her face before turning to her lawyer and asking to go back to her cell.

The more I came to know her and what she'd done the more I realised that the woman, underneath the attractive exterior, was an amoral monster; according to the psyche profile that the LAPD's best consulting shrink had pulled together after her arrest Humphries was out for herself and the psychologist's opinion was that in Humphries' worldview the rest of the world seemed to divide itself up into two camps, things and people that could be of some use to Humphries somehow and thus were temporarily valuable and the rest, who she saw as useless impediments, without value, unworthy of her attention and to be discarded as necessary.

Be that as it may we had her for arranging that attack on the convoy carrying our friends, circumstantially for the drive-by on Sharon and Brenda and the abortive attack on Maura and could tie her to not one but two separate murders of young women that the Cartel wasn't paying her for. I didn't care how she saw the world, I knew that the world was going to see her for the homicidal maniac she was and she'd end up in a cell right alongside Joan Hammond for as long as it took for Humphries to die of old age.

She'd been in solitary almost since being arrested. Initially for her protection, it turned out to be needed for the protection of the women around her; the woman was apparently an unemotional stone killer, one inmate at the prison hospital where Humphries was being treated for her cocaine addiction had threatened her, promising to cut up Humphries 'pretty face nice and slow'. Before anyone could intervene Humphries had abruptly stood and thrust her thumb right through the prisoner's right eye, pulping it in its socket, before turning away and asking to go back to her cell. When another inmate had threatened her, she'd calmly turned back and stated that the woman was lucky, she still had one eye, the next one wouldn't be so fortunate.

She seemed to not give a damn about what she'd done; once she'd been shown the evidence Brenda's team had on her for the deaths of Shaylene Phillips and Cristina Rocha she'd smiled and shrugged, obviously unconcerned beyond some obvious chagrin at being caught. I may be no shrink but in my opinion the woman was a complete psychopath and that made her both unpredictable and dangerous.

Fifteen minutes later and the trial was off to the usual start, Judge Craven had entered, given the expected opening remarks to the jurors about not seeking out additional information or commentary by the media, then admonished the public gallery about how they should comport themselves, basically he wanted them quiet as church mice.

I looked him over with interest, this was the first time I'd seen the man, he was a late fifties or early sixties WASP, his greying brown hair starting to thin over a narrow face notable for his sharp brown eyes and slightly oversized nose. Nothing there to suggest that he was a somewhat bigoted old fart, though that was the reputation that he had amongst the female attorneys in the LA County District Attorney's office, even to the point of sanctioning female lawyers for wearing slacks for god's sake, in this day and age. That said, we had to deal with the man, hopefully he'd keep his prejudices under control for the length of this trial.

Once the jury was settled the accused were introduced and the charges read out, I could see the jurors were a little stunned by the extent of the charges while the journalists in the media area were all busy taking down everything and tweeting, blogging and posting it online as fast as they could.

Speaking of the media it was well known that Craven wasn't a fan, he'd apparently objected to the presence of the media and in particular the three cameras inside the court which together covered the whole room, however it'd been explained to us that due to the public interest in this case the media had petitioned the court to attend. When Craven had turned them down flat, much as Nat had suggested they would, the combined media had immediately appealed to the Governor, the Mayor, the California Attorney General and the California Supreme Court.

Given the fact that we were in the city that had allowed the televising of the OJ Simpson case and the inquiry into Michael Jackson's death I didn't doubt that the Supreme Court would agree with the networks, but as it turned out they didn't have to. While the Supreme Court hadn't ruled yet the Governor had rolled over in the face of the network's complaints and had directed the Attorney General that they should be allowed to cover the case.

So now we had three unblinking eyes following everything we were doing, beaming it across the nation for later dissection by the on air 'experts', plus at least one of the cable networks was planning on running the case live with legal experts critiquing the case in real time; lucky, lucky us.

Craven looked our way and called on us to lay out our case, so as agreed we stood together, then turned to each other as Andrea smiled and made an 'after you' gesture. I smiled and made the same gesture, getting a smile in return, all as we'd planned, we wanted the jury to see a confident, coordinated prosecution, all to help our case. In the end Craven interrupted grumpily and asked us to make a decision, at which I pulled out a coin and we tossed, again as planned, I made a show of losing gracefully, though in fact I'd won the toss, sitting back down as Andrea stepped forward to deliver our opening address, all just as we'd planned a few days prior.

Andrea opened for us, outlining the State's case in broad brush strokes; we'd have plenty of time to get into the details, after outlining the basics of the charges and the nature of the accused's crimes she was starting to get into the initial nuts and bolts of their crimes and our case against them.

"The People will conclusively demonstrate the defendant's culpability, that they were directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of not only eight victims within the Witness Protection program, but the many, many more people outside that program that died at the hands of these individuals" She waved at the assembled defendants as she pressed on.

"It will be proved beyond any reasonable doubt that there existed a chain of criminality that led from the group's informant in the Justice Department, Joan Hammond, through to Gerry Kennedy, then to Aiden Powell, and in time to their fellow officers Anthony Di Marco and Julia Humphries, then finally Tony Ormond and Luke Farrar, all of them enmeshed in a web of criminal activity that saw the death of over three dozen people over the course of more than two years"

I saw the juror's eyes react again at that number, plus a few murmurs from the public gallery behind us, the total number of their victim's hadn't been officially released to the public before today though the media had speculated it was high, to be honest I'd been shocked when we'd first seen the list. They'd been busy little murderous scum, now though justice had caught up with them and it was time to pay the piper; meanwhile Andrea was on a roll.

"We will clearly tie the defendants to their crimes, from how they located their victims within the Justice Department's Witness Protection program to the manner in which they conveyed that information to the Cartel and how in turn they negotiated payment for the deaths of their numerous victims"

I glanced over at the defence tables and saw Peterson seemingly calm, as were his team and the accused; Powell and Kennedy were watching Andrea as were Di Marco and Hammond, Farrar was staring off into the distance while Osmond's gaze was fixed on the desk in front of him. Humphries however was looking round the court, her eyes flitting from person to person, they came to rest on me and she smiled, it wasn't a particularly nice sensation having a psychopath smiling at you but I didn't react beyond a slightly raised eyebrow. We locked eyes for a few seconds before her gaze moved on, leaving me uneasy. She was the unknown element here; she'd refused to talk to anyone, apparently hadn't cooperated with the other's defence team or the public defender assigned to her and kept to her isolation, making me wonder about what was going on inside that head of hers. Andrea meanwhile had pressed on.

"The People will demonstrate conclusively that Joan Hammond used her privileged access to the Justice Department's Witness Protection database here in Los Angeles to identify former members of the Sinaloa Cartel and then passed that information on to her step-brother, Detective Sergeant Gerry Kennedy, in return for a part of the proceeds of his activities"

"Evidence will be presented that will prove beyond doubt the actions of the defendant Hammond in accessing the Justice Department databases to identify and locate victims for their murder on behalf of the Sinaloa Cartel" Andrea paused and stretched out an arm, pointing at Hammond. "The defendant became her step-brother's mole within the Justice Department, passing classified information to him for money" Andrea paused and sipped from a glass of water for a moment before proceeding.

"It will be conclusively proven that Gerry Kennedy in turn sold that information to the Sinaloa Cartel. Worse, he sold that information and then on their orders carried out the murder of those individuals in return for payment; in short he became the Cartel's paid executioner here in Los Angeles" I noticed Peterson making occasional notes on a pad in front of him while I wondered exactly how he was going to defend his clients, the mass of evidence we had was pretty damning; no doubt he'd try and throw everyone off their stride by attempting to undermine our evidence, the thought drawing a slight smile and a wry thought; ' _kind of defines the term pushing shit uphill_ ', leaving me frowning inwardly at the crudity; Liv really was a bad influence.

"The defendant's killed multiple people here in Los Angeles for the Sinaloa Cartel, at thirty thousand dollars a time. A small enough amount for a life you might say, but one that bought Kennedy's compliance and in time, the compliance of each of the other accused" Andrea turned again and faced the defence table, gesturing in their direction as she continued with the summary. "We will further prove that each of the defendants was guilty of actions which led to the death of their victims, some indirectly but the majority at their hands, resulting in the deaths of eight people hidden within the Witness Protection program right here in Los Angeles"

"The people will further provide evidence that conclusively ties the accused to the murder of their victims and how they were then in turn paid their blood money" I saw several jurors looking from Andrea to the defendant's and back, as if trying to reconcile their appearance with her words, not that I was worried; by the time we were done here we'd make it clear beyond doubt they were guilty as sin. I had no worries there, the evidence the Major Crimes team had pulled together was outstanding and we'd use it all to send them to death row.

"As if the eight victims within the Witness Protection program were not enough to convict the defendants, the people will prove beyond doubt their involvement in the many other deaths that they carried out at the Cartel's bidding, spreading their reign of terror across this city" Peterson didn't let that go, standing and objecting.

"Objection Your Honour, Prosecution is suggesting an impact on the people of Los Angeles completely at odds with the truth" He glanced at Andrea and continued. "These alleged crimes were not known to anyone, how then could there be a 'reign of terror' as the Prosecution claims" Craven looked at Andrea and spoke up.

"Well?" She ignored Peterson, directing her response at Craven.

"A figure of speech, one which accurately describes the accused's actions Your Honour" Andrea shrugged. "While their crimes were not front page news before their arrest, their actions were known within the team of LAPD and Bureau investigators who were closing in on them"

"Really, you're going with that?" It was Peterson, Andrea shook her head as I caught her eye, raising an eyebrow and getting a slight nod; I stood and addressed Craven and the jury.

"Your Honour, I will point out that it will be shown that the accused were behind a number of attempts on the lives of the team closing in on their activities, to the point that attempts were made on their lives at their homes, leaving the LAPD's headquarters and on the streets of Los Angeles, culminating in a major fire fight, one of the largest and most intense ever seen in this city" I turned to Peterson and spread my hands. "Reign of terror seems to cover it pretty accurately, don't you think?" My point made I sat down as Andrea smoothly took over.

"Of course Mister Peterson is probably not accustomed to have to rely on the protection of armed guards to stay alive long enough to do his job, so perhaps he doesn't have a complete grasp of the subject he's objecting too" She shrugged and looked back at Judge Craven. "Your Honour…?" Craven frowned at her for a moment before glancing at Peterson.

"Objection overruled. Counsellor, continue" Andrea smiled and nodded

"Thank you Your Honour" I smiled quietly to myself; round one to us, but there'd be plenty more to come.

 **New York** **State Supreme Court Building**

Liz Donnelly smiled quietly to herself in her chambers, exchanging a glance with her fellow judge Lena Petrovski who shook her head as they sat watching the coverage, then spoke.

"That defence counsel's going to need something a lot stronger than that if he expects to get anywhere" Liz nodded.

"Even if he did, Cabot's going to tear him apart" Lena nodded slowly.

"True, we trained her well" Liz chuckled a little at that, remembering some of their shared history.

"I doubt she'd thank us for it, probably grumble about how we enjoyed making her life hell" Lena cackled for a moment before replying.

"Like I said, training" They traded smug smiles for a moment before returning to the televised case coming live from Los Angeles.

 **In Court**

"Finally we come to some of the most recent crimes which the accused have undertaken, the attempted murder of six law enforcement personnel; four LAPD members, the head of the City of Los Angeles Coroner's Office and a Federal Bureau of investigation Special Agent" Andrea looked across the jury before continuing. "We will prove beyond a doubt that the accused arranged several attempts on the lives of these law enforcement personnel when they became aware that their actions were being investigated, each attempt more blatant than the last, starting with assassins sent to their homes, then attempted drive-by shootings before culminating in an ambush and fire fight on the streets of Los Angeles"

 **Boston BPD Division 1 Homicide**

In the Boston Regional Information Centre the room was quiet, pretty much anyone who could be there was, together standing and watching as the case was laid out on the massive wall screens, there'd been low whistles and muttered comments when the prosecutor spelled out the numbers of dead. As the prosecutor mentioned the ambush the network cut to some cell phone footage showing the fire fight, a low murmur ran through the room as they recognised Jane standing up and taking a shot.

"Shit she was lucky" It was Frost. "Jane could have been killed standing up there" Before Korsak could reply an irritating voice cut across the room.

"That's Rizzoli, always was a glory hound" At Crowe's words a grumble went through the room, low and angry but before Korsak or Frost or Cooper could say anything another voice cut across the noise.

"That's my sister you're talking about dirt bag" It was an angry Frankie Rizzoli standing there in the doorway, hands on his hips and a fierce, combative look on his face. "She put herself on the line to save her LAPD partners and those civilians; you got a problem with that?" Crowe went to say something then took in the angry and disapproving faces around him; before he could say anything stupid Nina Holiday's voice cut across the room.

"Pipe down Crowe, the rest of us want to hear what's being said" Crowe wanted to say something but the BRIC was Holiday's turf so he contented himself with shaking his head as the rest of the room promptly forgot him and turned their attention back to the screen.

 **In Court**

Andrea finished outlining the scope of the conspirator's crimes; it had taken more than two hours all up, listing each victim, now she was informing the jury that we'd be calling for the death penalty for all the defendants.

"The People will be seeking the imposition of the death penalty for the accused. It will conclusively prove that the accused's crimes warrant this outcome as they have, in accordance with the California Penal Code, undertaken actions that make such a call mandatory" She paused and looked round the jurors, then continued. "The Code calls for the death penalty to be imposed for the crime of first degree murder with special circumstances. Three of those special circumstances apply to this case" She used one hand to tick off the fingers of the other in a small piece of theatre that would play well for the jury and the cameras.

"Firstly; the crime of Murder in the First Degree for financial gain" Conscious of the cameras and the jury watching I carefully smothered a smile at Andrea's words; the way she'd said it you could practically hear the capitalization of the crime in her voice. "The people will prove that the vast majority of crimes undertaken by the accused, including the overwhelming number of murders they stand accused of were undertaken to obtain payment from a Mexican organized crime cartel, which leads us immediately and directly to the second violation of the Penal Code warranting the death penalty" She took a few steps forward and ticked off another finger as the jury and the cameras hung off her words.

"First Degree Murder involving multiple murders; the State will prove that the majority of the accused undertook the wilful, premeditated murder of multiple victims, four of these defendants are accused of multiple murders for financial gain" She threw a glance over at the tables where the seven defendants sat with their lawyers. "Three of the defendants did not directly commit murder for financial gain, nor undertake multiple murders, that however does not obviate them of their crimes" She looked back at the jury and pushed on, ticking off her third finger.

"The third Special Circumstance is Murder in the First Degree that involved the murder of a witness. In this case seven of the accused's direct victims were Federal witnesses that had been placed in the Witness Protection program following their giving evidence against a Mexican drug cartel" She caught the eyes of the jurors as she explained. "The California Penal Code states that if the defendant intended to kill the witness in retaliation for his/her past testimony then that is a Special Circumstance which calls for the imposition of the Death Penalty"

Andrea turned to the table where the disgraced cops sat and held her hand out, pointing at Farrar and then Osmond where he sat at one end.

"Not all the defendants took part in or facilitated these murders, two of the accused, Mister Osmond and Mister Farrar did not, to the best of our knowledge do so. That however is their only saving grace. They are charged with a range of other, significant crimes, including multiple counts of kidnapping, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to kill on-duty Police Officers and conspiracy to kill a Federal law enforcement officer amongst other, lesser crimes" She turned back to the jurors again as she continued.

"While these are all major crimes, all of which attract significant sentences, those crimes are not what have attracted the State's call for the death penalty for these two accused. It will be proved that the defendants undertook multiple kidnappings in return for financial gain, the results of which led to the death of at least one of the kidnapping victims, a member of the Witness Protection program. This, under Sections 207 and 209 of the California Penal Code, is a Special Circumstance which attracts the death penalty and which is why the People have petitioned for that sentence to be applied to all the accused, including Mister Farrar and Mister Osmond"

I nodded in agreement, not just because she was right but also because several of the jurors were looking my way, every little bit helped in the theatre of a courtroom, it helped convince the jurors that the prosecution and the state were certain of the accused's guilt, all of which helped our case.

Once the initial remarks were made, Andrea handed over to me and I walked the jury through our case, outlining the timeline of the murders as best we could, I had to keep referring back to my notes; there were a large number of victims to be identified, more for a single case than I'd ever had before. Peterson objected a few times, nothing major, pretty much _pro forma_ really but we'd taken turns slamming him hard, Craven had denied most of his objections, leaving us to hammer in the nails of the coffin we were building for Kennedy and Powell and the others.

We used a huge, high definition flat screen television, set up in part of the courtroom where it could be clearly seen by the jury, Craven, the defendants, most of the public gallery including the media and not at all coincidentally, two of the TV cameras. It meant that one of us would often be 'driving' as Andrea had put it while the other was presenting the evidence to the court, though we'd switch back and forth regularly. In this case, as I slowly walked the jury through each of the accused's victims, she'd driven the laptop that contained the imagery of the evidence, revealing a side by side of the victim when alive, usually a DMV shot, and an image from the crime scene, often somewhat messy and gruesome, to get the message across.

Peterson had objected, of course, to the imagery but hadn't got far, especially when Andrea asked if he'd prefer us to hand out leaflets of the victim's names and faces to the jury. When he'd balked at that Craven had told him to sit back down, leaving us to get on with the case.

So far, so good, but it was early days and we had a very long road and a lot of testimony ahead of us before we'd see them convicted and sentenced.

I'd seen Craven frowning a few times as we'd laid out our case; he obviously didn't like the way we were playing to the jury and coincidentally to the media, obviously his issues with women went well beyond what they wore in his court to how they spoke, acted and behaved, leaving me wonder how long he'd sit still. It didn't take long; we were only a couple of hours into our opening remarks when Craven called a short recess while we were called into his chambers.

 **Judge Craven's Chambers**

Peterson had tried calling elements of our case into question and we'd tagged teamed him pretty hard, swapping the lead several times and generally leaving Craven little choice but to rule in our favour most of the time, to Peterson's growing and barely-hidden annoyance. He obviously wasn't the only one though, as Craven dropped into his oversized swivel chair behind the huge desk and peered up at us, obviously annoyed.

"What the hell are you two playing at?" I thought about saying something then deferred to Andrea, she knew him, how far she could push; I didn't. Andrea stayed calm, her voice calmly innocent.

"What do you mean Judge?'

"You're treating this capital crimes trial like you're teaching an acting class. I will remind you this is a court of law counsellor" Andrea stood there and regarded him calmly before she spoke.

"As far as I am aware, theatrics, within limits, are not yet banned in court and, given six members of the LAPD and FBI were going to be killed on the orders of the defendants, we don't see any issue in doing whatever it takes to see them convicted" Craven frowned.

"That's all very well counsellors but this is my court and I don't like it, you understand me" Andrea remained calm in the face of his minor judicial temper tantrum as Craven continued. "Counsellors, I'm telling you to tone down the theatrics, this is a court, not a stage" Andrea and I swapped a glance before she nodded, making it my turn. I looked over at Craven behind his desk and spoke.

"Very well Your Honour, however you need to be aware that Peterson intends to make an issue out of the fact that the two officers who led the investigation are gay" Craven looked up at me and shrugged.

"So what?" Andrea handled that, her voice taking on a slightly harsh tone.

"Your Honour, both of the women in question, Deputy Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor, in addition to being romantically involved, are our friends. We don't appreciate having their personal lives dragged through the court by the defence on spurious fishing expeditions, particularly in a salacious attempt to direct attention away from the defendants and the capital crimes they're charged with" Craven sat back in his high-backed leather chair and regarded her.

"Does it matter if the officers are gay? If it's relevant I see no problem in letting the defence look into it" Unable to stay silent I shook my head, attracting Craven's attention as I spoke.

"Your Honour, we wish to place it on the record that we will strenuously object in the strongest possible terms to the defence's attempt to smear the officers concerned" Craven looked over at my words, tilting his head as he regarded me.

"There's a difference between investigating a witness's testimony and smearing them" I frowned as Andrea replied.

"You and I know that Your Honour, Peterson, I'm not so sure about" Craven shrugged again, patently unconcerned.

"Counsellor, I doubt defence would go down that path" I moved a step closer to Craven's desk, looking down at him and keeping my voice flat and calm.

"Your Honour, we would be extremely unhappy if that line of questioning was pursued. Both Counsellor Hobbs and I are gay and are also involved with police officers" Craven frowned, whether at the thought of Peterson going down that path or my outing both of us to him I didn't know, I mentally shrugged and continued. "We would therefore take it as a very particular, very personal attack if Mister Peterson does indeed choose to drag this trial into an attack on the relationship choices of our friends" Craven looked thoughtful for a moment then shrugged as he spoke.

"I doubt he will" Andrea shook her head as she replied.

"I would hope you are right Your Honour, however if he does, then as far as we are concerned, all bets are off" Craven sat forward abruptly, his forearms coming to rest on his desk as he gave her a hard look.

"What exactly do you mean by that statement Counsellor?" Andrea took a breath, standing a fraction straighter, taller.

"That such behaviour will be taken as a declaration of war and we will not be held responsible for what happens then" I looked at her then back at Craven, taking in his suddenly thoughtful expression and spoke.

"If Mister Peterson does as he has threatened to do and tries to drag our friend's relationship through the mud, I personally guarantee that I will do everything in my power to destroy him and his credibility inside and outside this courtroom" I stopped and held my breath, I'd pushed very hard, we both had. Craven was obviously surprised, his eyes narrowing as they flicked between us both as we stood there in front of him, I tried hard not to flinch under his gaze. Finally he spoke slowly.

"We shall see what happens, until then Counsellors, tone down the theatrics" I nodded as Andrea smiled politely.

"Yes Your Honour"

We left.

 **In Court**

An hour after the lunch recess and I'd finished laying out the killings that the accused had done on Sinaloa's coin and Andrea was up, she had sketched out the attempts on Brenda and Sharon by the assassins, to this point Peterson had made a few objections, seemingly more for appearances sake than anything else, making me wonder what he was up to. I found out soon enough.

Andrea had outlined the drive-by attempt on both Sharon and Brenda, to be followed by the ambush on Maura then moving on to the shoot out on the streets. That would be followed by the case for the murders of Shaylene Phillips and Cristina Rocha by Humphries when I found out what he'd been waiting for. Peterson standing and addressing the court,

"Objection your Honour" Craven looked his way and nodded,

"Yes?"

"I would question the right for these charges to be heard in this court at this time" I narrowed my eyes, wondering what he was playing at; from the similar look on Andrea's face she was thinking the same thing. Craven made it three when he spoke up.

"And why exactly is that Mister Peterson?"

"Your Honour, the defendant Ms Humphries is accused of a number of capital crimes, crimes she carried out alone and apparently without the knowledge of anyone else" He spread his hands wide. "My clients certainly had no idea of the actions she undertook and therefore combining that defendant's crimes with those my innocent clients are accused of is a travesty of justice" Before he could continue he was interrupted by three objections, from Andrea and I and, not surprisingly, from Humphries' public defender who till this point in the trial had remained relatively quiet.

It was obvious to Andrea and I that Peterson wanted the damning attacks on our live witnesses out of the way, that way he'd only be defending against the cases where all the defendants were dead, our evidence was circumstantial and would hinge on the testimony from Hernandez. I was willing to bet every cent of the Cabot family fortune he'd be slinging mud against Hernandez's credibility, trying to taint that as well. Craven looked between the four of us then waved at Humphries' defender.

"Counsellor, as this directly concerns your client perhaps you should be the first to speak" The young guy nodded and leaned forward, one hand resting on the desk.

"Your Honour, this appears to be a blatant attempt to shift blame to my client in an attempt to distance Mister Peterson's clients from the crimes they also stand accused of" He looked along the row of four tables to the other end where Peterson was standing. "Given the fact that all seven accused are charged with similar crimes, should they not have the chance to have their presumed guilt or innocence determined together?" I nodded, hoping the jury saw it; I didn't want Humphries to carry the rap alone for some of the stuff she had done in conjunction with the others, which was all too obviously Peterson's goal. Speaking of whom, he smoothly took up a rebuttal.

"Your Honour, there are ample precedent's in law, in fact…" Peterson reached down and picked up a tablet and started reading from it, quoting numerous precedents in California case law. I glanced at Andrea and saw her frowning slightly, obviously looking for a loophole. I left her too it as I wasn't as familiar with chapter and verse of California law, instead I was wracking my brain through federal law I'd come across in various cases that might be applicable. Finally, having cited numerous precedents Peterson wound down and looked to Craven who in turn looked to Humphries' counsel.

"Well counsellor?" It was obvious that he was frantically dredging for his own precedents to argue the case when he was interrupted by an unusual source, Humphries herself. She reached out and laid a hand on his arm and spoke, her voice carrying easily.

"Let's see how far they're willing to go to save their miserable hides" Her defender frowned and bent over, speaking quietly into her ear, getting a sharp glance before she spoke. ""Let's see what Hobbs and Cabot have to say first" He nodded and looked over at us, drawing Craven's attention to where we were standing.

"Well Counsellors, do you have something to add?" he asked as I looked to Andrea and gave a small shrug, she saw what I was trying to say; ' _I got nothing_ ', and nodded, leaving me to sit down as she turned to look towards the bench.

"Your Honour, there are indeed precedents that support Mister Peterson's claim, he did rather exhaustively list them after all" She took a few steps forward and around the table "That said there are also numerous precedents that apply under these circumstances which I note he very carefully did not cite, in particular Fellows vs Hackman vs the State of California in which a very similar situation arose…" She was interrupted by Peterson.

"That's hardly germane to this situation!" Ignoring him Andrea continued laying out her case, quoting several other precedents that supported continuing to try them together. From where I was standing it looked like Craven was uncertain which way to rule, instead looking to Humphries and her defender. I suddenly remembered a case that might help ours and stood.

"Your Honour…" Craven looked my way and nodded.

"Councillor, you have something to add?" I stood a little taller as I spoke.

"I would like to cite Federal law as a precedent, in fact the Supreme Court ruled in the hearing into the 911 conspiracy that the actions of multiple conspirators could be heard together as each element of the conspiracy supported the overall objective of the conspirators" I looked to the Defence table, then back to Craven. "That certainly applies here" Peterson sure as hell didn't agree, quickly objecting.

"Your Honour, that was a federal trial under terrorism-related charges, charges which have been subject to question and appeal repeatedly. I fail to see their relevance in this case" I shrugged before answering.

"And yet the precedent still stands" I looked to Craven, he was the one we had to convince. "The acts of the accused were undertaken to allow them to continue their lucrative criminal endeavours, the defendant Kennedy negotiated a price with Sinaloa for the murder of the investigating officers…"

"Your Honour, Counsel is attempting to taint the jury's perceptions of the defendant's" Ling interjected as I kept talking over her.

"…while the defendant Humphries negotiated a price with not one but two criminal gangs here in Los Angeles to achieve the same end" Peterson and Ling both objected before they shared a glance and Ling sat down, leaving Peterson to argue their case.

"Your Honour, a federal terrorism case, one that has been subject to numerous appeals and challenges, hardly qualifies as a suitable precedent under California law, the special circumstances surrounding that case are not applicable to a civil case"

"Criminal case, counsellor" Andrea corrected him, looking back to Craven. "This is a criminal case, not a civil dispute here, a legal nicety and something that the Defence seems eager to avoid admitting" She smiled. "Naturally" I smiled and nodded.

"I'm sure even Mr Peterson here is aware of the difference" Peterson ignored our comments and continued to plead his case to Craven.

"Your Honour, I believe that charges pertaining to the actions Miss Humphries may or may not have carried out are best investigated and determined in a separate trial, one that can concentrate on the guilt of the defendant, rather than clogging up this trial with irrelevancies not germane to the false charges brought against my clients" Craven sat back, obviously thinking about it then looked to Humphries' lawyer.

"Do you have anything else to add?" The young guy was about to rise when Humphries spoke.

"Let me" The defender shook his head but she was insistent as they spoke quietly but with some heat before Humphries rose to her feet and looked to Craven while her defender shook his head. Standing tall she rested one hand on her hip, using the other to gesture with as she spoke.

"Your Honour, my guilt or innocence is yet to be proven, but let me assure you that everything I am accused of, if I indeed did them, would have been discussed with my partner, Lieutenant Di Marco…" she waved his way, the gesture taking in the rest of the defendants. "…who in turn would have discussed it with both Kennedy and Powell" She turned a nasty smile on the rest of the Defence tables as she continued. "Basically they knew precisely what I was doing, when I was doing it, why I was doing it and how I was doing it" Peterson's jaw dropped, a match for mine and Andrea's and from the looks of it most of the court. Finally we all turned our eyes to Craven who was scrutinising Humphries, eventually he nodded once.

"In light of the defendant's testimony your objection is overruled Counsellor. We'll have plenty of opportunity to ascertain exactly who knew what and when during the course of this trial" He looked to Andrea. "Prosecution" We both looked his way. "Continue where you left off" Andrea nodded.

"Yes Your Honour" Craven turned to look at Humphries and waved her down.

"The defendant will return to her seat" Humphries smiled wickedly and turned to look at the other suspects, her voice carrying across the court and far beyond courtesy of the cameras.

"Don't try throwing me under the bus; you won't like the results…" With that she sat back down as the whispers throughout the court started, prompting Craven to tap his gavel once and call for quiet. With the court silent once more he looked to Andrea and nodded.

"Continue"

 **Las Vegas LVPD Crime Lab**

"Cold" At the comment Ray Langstrom, head of the Las Vegas Crime looked over at his lead CSI, Catherine Willows, seeing the blonde woman shaking her head.

"Hmm?" At his querying comment Willows looked to him.

"Something about that woman, Humphries, she sets off my instincts" She shook her head. "I don't know what it is but it's something" Langstrom nodded; Catherine was his most experienced CSI, she'd been doing this for many years and when she said something didn't feel right it was usually a sign they needed to go back over the evidence and assumptions once more. In this case…he looked to the screen once more, seeing one of the prosecutors, the older one, was outlining the background to several additional murders, god knows there were enough in this case already.

"Anything more concrete?" Willows shook her head at his question then replied.

"No, but I wouldn't like to be passing her in a dark alley" She shook her head a little and looked to her boss. "She gives me the creeps" Catherine shrugged. "Just a bad vibe I guess" They exchanged a look as Ray spoke.

"Well, I'm sure, given the charges, we'll have plenty of time to find out just what sort of person she really is" Catherine nodded.

"There is that"


	2. Chapter 2

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **02 – The Defence Opens**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

"Defence?"

Peterson rose at Craven's call as we sat there waiting; frankly I was fascinated, almost morbidly so, to hear what he had to say after we'd spent all of yesterday and much of this morning laying out our case. The evidence we had was damning beyond measure, leaving Peterson with damn all to work with; as Liv had bluntly, crudely but all too accurately described it on the way in this morning, no matter how much he tried polishing a turd, it remained a turd.

Peterson walked round from behind the Defence tables and into the center of the open space between the judge, the jury and audience and turned to face Craven and the jurors. He'd worn a very well-tailored dark blue suit, it looked to my eye like an Armani; matched with a conservative red striped tie and a white shirt he looked like the lawyer or banker from central casting.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have heard the prosecution lay out a case made up of innuendo, half-truths, supposition and guess work" He shook his head, all theatrics for his audience, both here and watching via the cameras. "They have attempted to paint hard-working members of the Los Angeles Police Department and Justice Department as criminals based on little but hot air and wishful thinking" I sat back, wondering where he was going with this. He knew the evidence we had to bring to bear, so he must have known he was facing an oncoming avalanche of undeniable proof, enough to bury his clients. I flicked a glance at Andrea but she sat there, apparently unmoved and unconcerned, one hand holding a pen poised to make notes but apart from that she was the picture of serene calm. I took a breath and tried to emulate her as Peterson pushed on.

"Why then, given that this case is so shaky has the prosecution brought this case against my clients?" He paused to heighten the jury's interest then pressed on. "The true reasons are interlayered and complex" He stepped forward from his desk and walked towards the jury.

"The first layer deals with the incompetence of the LAPDs own Internal Affairs section, the one that investigates shootings by police" He shrugged. "During the course of their duties police are required to discharge their firearms regularly to protect lives; their own and those of the public, they undertake a dangerous job on our behalf" He gestured with his hands as he continued. "No one would begrudge an officer having to discharge his firearm when attacked or to protect another, well no unbiased observer that is" I felt my eyes unconsciously narrow as he pressed on. "Unfortunately unbiased is not what we are dealing with here, not when it comes to the actions of the LAPD's Force Investigation Department, the Department's own secret police" I flicked a glance at Andrea, wondering if she was going to let that one pass unchallenged. I wasn't disappointed as, with a tap of her pen on the writing pad Andrea broke in, interrupting Peterson.

"Objection Your Honour, I would strongly protest the characterization of any area of the Los Angeles Police Department as acting as any kind of 'secret police' in the manner Defence has suggested" Craven looked our way, then nodded.

"Sustained, the jury will disregard that statement" Peterson nodded and continued; he'd probably not expected to get that one past but more than likely he was trying to taint the juror's perceptions of our witnesses, a bit grimy but not unexpected.

"The Force Investigation Department of the LAPD investigates any officers who discharge their firearm, a laudable duty but one which, under its current leadership, has developed a reputation amongst officers for arbitrary and brutal methods and outcomes" I saw Andrea's jaw tighten but she stayed silent as Peterson continued. "Force Investigation has the power to break an officer, to decide after the fact, without knowing what exactly transpired in the minds of the officers or suspects in a tense and stressful situation, what the supposed 'truth' is. That however is the remit of the Force Investigation Division and in particular it's rightly feared former head, Commander Sharon Raydor"

I sat there, staring flatly at Peterson, wondering just how far he was going to push this; as it turned out, pretty damned far.

"I say former head because Sharon Raydor was promoted to a more senior role following her bringing charges against my clients, a reward as it were for delivering up innocent law enforcement personnel to trial. The LAPD was embarrassed by their inability to solve these crimes and were desperate for a scapegoat, Sharon Raydor was the one who sought out and selected those scapegoats and was duly rewarded for it" He looked around the jury, the audience and, not coincidentally, the cameras as he continued.

"Commander Sharon Raydor is now one of the prosecution's key witnesses. Why? Because she is the one who looked into a series of shooting incidents involving these innocent officers and decided that she didn't like the results, therefore she would continue to harass and torment these officers, all because she couldn't accept that they were innocent" He took a few steps towards the jury and stopped, standing where the cameras could get a clear shot of him. "In Raydor's biased world view, officers who have to discharge their firearm, in the face of imminent death, when they have to kill or be killed, are guilty until proven innocent" I flicked a glance at Andrea to see her watching Peterson with a cold, unwavering gaze. I sat back and joined her as we waited for him to overstep.

"That same Sharon Raydor is intimately involved in a relationship with another officer, Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson:" Peterson paused and put on an exaggerated look, half surprise, half leer. "That's right ladies and gentlemen, the prosecution's two main witnesses are involved in a relationship, the officer who investigates police shootings and the person who she has co-opted to support her assertions against the hard-working, innocent officers in front of you, the very definition of conflict of interest" Andrea and I exchanged a glance and as one turned to Craven who saw us, I thought he was about to say something but he shook his head and looked back to Peterson who was pushing on.

"So Raydor and her lesbian lover Johnson were involved in an illicit affair, one they carefully concealed from the majority of their coworkers and in particular from their superiors" We both were on our feet objecting immediately, Andrea was marginally faster.

"Objection Your Honor, exactly how does the sexuality of the officers in question have any involvement in this case?" Craven looked from us to Peterson.

"Well Defence?"

"Your Honour, there was no imputation, I was simply making their relationship clear to all" Craven frowned at that then shrugged.

"Proceed" Andrea and I exchanged a look as we sat down, exchanging a barely–hidden expression of sheer disgust; I suppose we couldn't expect anything like a fair hearing from a reactionary like Craven. I saw puzzled frowns on a few of the jury members too, so at least some of them recognised Craven's behavior for the reactionary filth it was.

"As I was saying, Johnson and Raydor were involved, eager to keep this from their superiors, including the Chief of the LAPD, they each overreacted to a perceived threat, one created from their own paranoia" I glanced at Andrea, seeing her jaw tighten in anger as mine did the same, Peterson wasn't finished however. "Given their paranoid concerns they trumped up these baseless charges out of some overprotective instinct for their lesbian lover" That was a smear too far for both of us, we both shot to our feet, I barely beat her.

"Objection Your Honour" Andrea was barely a beat behind me.

"Objection Your Honour, please!" Craven looked our way and spoke.

"Prosecution?" Andrea glanced my way and nodded as she sat, leaving it to me.

"Your Honour, to so besmirch the character of the two most senior female officers in the LAPD is beyond contemptible, to accuse them of manufacturing charges is a disgusting smear on their integrity and character, offered up with neither substance or proof" I turned to stare at Peterson. "If the Defence has any evidence to the contrary I demand he produce it now or retract his slanderous accusations" I was pushing it a bit hard but we had to try and shut this line of crap down early before he could taint the jury. Craven frowned at me.

"You have no power to demand anything in my court, do you understand me Counselor?" I nodded; of course I knew that but was playing to the Jury, remaining there staring at Peterson like the contemptible filth he was as Craven spoke again. "Perhaps you might wish to explain this line of questioning Mister Peterson?" Peterson smiled and stepped a little forward towards Craven.

"You Honour, if it pleases the court, we believe that it's because of this illicit gay relationship that both women have acted prejudicially against my clients" I glanced to the bench, seeing Craven's mouth twist in thought before he spoke.

"In what way prejudicially are we talking about Mister Peterson?" Peterson spread his arms, all open honesty; at least that was the look he was trying for.

"By refusing to take into account my clients have offered full cooperation and offered to provide useful evidence which might lead the investigation to the true culprits, which has been ignored Your Honour" Andrea's interjection just beat mine as she stood once more.

"Objection!"

"Objection Your Honor" Craven glanced at us.

"Yes Counselors?" I deferred to Andrea who nodded gratefully and pressed on as I sat back down.

"The defendants have not offered full cooperation, in fact they have repeatedly refused to provide simple facts like the exact number of people they killed for Sinaloa" Peterson's reply was lightning fast.

"Allegedly killed" I shook my head as Andrea smirked and replied; mocking a comment he'd made yesterday.

"Really, you're really going with that?" I saw one or two smiles amongst the jury members; obviously they remembered it too as Craven stepped into the dispute.

"Prosecution will sit down. Defence, continue your explanation" Peterson barely bothered hiding his smirk.

"Thank you Your Honor. As I said my clients were ready to assist law enforcement officers however their cooperation was spurned by Deputy Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor in favour of attempting to send them to death row. I suggest that the evidence indicates that these actions are motivated by spite, motivated by their hatred for the officers of the LAPDs Robbery Homicide division" My eyes widened in shock even as Craven spoke slowly.

"And you base this claim on what exactly?" Peterson was smooth; obviously he'd expected and planned for this but even I hadn't anticipated his next words.

"Both Raydor and Johnson are radical lesbian feminists; they hate men and promote women over them, in keeping with their own personal sexual prejudices and agendas"

Andrea and I sat there staring at Peterson, aghast, then as one our heads slowly turned to face the bench where Craven chewed his lip for a moment, obviously fidgeting under our gaze.

"Prosecution, Defence, approach the bench" We made our way forward, ending up standing in front of him, I could see Craven noting the distance between us and Peterson and could almost read his mind from where I was standing right there in front of him. ' _No love lost there_ '; he wasn't wrong; right now I wouldn't spit on Peterson if he was on fire. Looking at Peterson, Craven spoke, moving his microphone to the side and keeping his voice low in deference to the cameras watching every move and gesture.

"I hope you know what the hell you're doing Mister Peterson" The attorney nodded.

"I am fully aware of my actions, however I believe they will be of vital importance to this case" Craven's gaze flicked to where we were silently standing there, then back.

"The prosecution has threatened to go thermonuclear if you pursue this line of questioning; are you really willing to continue to do so?" Peterson looked across at us and smiled condescendingly.

"Yes I am" Craven sighed then spoke.

"I'm almost willing to let them, especially if I think you are in any way wasting this court's time, am I understood Mister Peterson?"

"Yes your Honour" Craven turned to look at us both.

"Prosecution, I will allow this line of questioning, but if I think the defence has overstepped the mark, you will have your free reign" I went to speak but he held up his hand, stopping me. "But not until then, am I understood?" Andrea and I shared a look and an unspoken conversation before Andrea nodded once, I looked back at him as I spoke for us both.

"You are Your Honour" Craven nodded and spoke a little louder.

"Then continue Mister Peterson, but proceed carefully or may god have mercy on you, because neither the court nor most definitely the prosecution will. Do you understand me?" He nodded once as he replied.

"I do your Honour" Craven looked at where the two of us were steaming; I was livid and I could see the same in Andrea's face, she was desperately trying to keep it together but the anger could be easily seen around her eyes and mouth, something even Craven must have seen as he addressed us.

"Defence may continue but proceed very carefully" Neither of us missed the smirk on Peterson's face as he walked back to the defence table as I exchanged a glance with Andrea, she was royally pissed, something I could see in the tight set of her face and the way she held herself, something I was in wholehearted agreement with as we resumed our places. Peterson returned to the centre of the room, holding court in front of the jury as we sat down before he spoke again.

"I give it to you that the two officers who ran this unsanctioned investigation or perhaps witch hunt might be a better term…" Andrea was on it immediately.

"Objection your Honour, there is no way that Defence can categorise this investigation as a witch hunt" I was on my feet right beside her.

"Nor in any way could it be described as unsanctioned" Craven looked to Peterson who shrugged.

"Force Investigation Division has seventy two hours to close an investigation into an officer involved shooting, clearly that time had passed and was long gone, why exactly was Raydor and her girlfriend continuing an investigation long after the time had passed? Perhaps she didn't like the fact that she couldn't find anything so she kept looking for something, anything that would support her own unfounded beliefs in the conduct of these officers, even though her own investigations had previously cleared them" He turned to the jury and shrugged. "Like a football team that didn't like the result, she kept at it after the game had finished, looking for something, no matter how tenuous or unlikely, to support her baseless allegations" Andrea leaned forward, one hand resting on the table, the other held out, hand open as I sat down, she had this.

"Force Investigation Division returned an open finding on the incident in question, something that is clearly within their rights to do, while not common it is allowed for under the federal regulations governing such investigations, allowing for on-going enquiries beyond the normal 72 hour limit." Peterson shook his head.

"Then why carry out the investigation covertly, out of hours and without approval from the Chief of the LAPD, Chief William Pope? And why did she drag her girlfriend, Johnson, into the investigation, as it wasn't a Major Crimes case and she had neither the right nor the expertise to take part in the case" Craven looked across at us and I almost interjected but deferred to Andrea who spoke, somehow keeping her voice calm.

"As I just explained, Force Investigation was continuing to investigate, the case remained open, allowing them every right to do so" She slowly shook her head at Peterson, as if appalled by his stupidity. "As for the involvement of Deputy Chief Johnson in the case, given Chief Johnson's exemplary record in solving some of this city's most difficult and high profile cases, it is hardly correct to call her involvement either unwelcome or unwarranted" She turned to Craven. "Force Investigation Division has call on any and all of the LAPDs resources necessary to solve Officer Involved Shootings. Requesting assistance from Major Crimes in this case was unusual but neither unlawful nor, as it turned out, uncalled for"

"Objection sustained" Craven looked to Peterson. "Another tack counselor" As Andrea sat down Peterson shrugged and walked around the table, playing to the audience.

"I would infer that these two officers were trying to keep their illicit lesbian affair hidden under the noses of the LAPD, keeping it secret because they didn't want anyone knowing about what they were doing, in contravention of their own department's code of conduct" We exchanged a look as Andrea wearily stood.

"Objection, how is this relevant to the charges the defendants face?" Craven looked to the Defence table.

"Defence?"

"We seek to prove malice on the part of the officers concerned" The judge's eyes flicked to where Andrea stood leaning forward; her hands on the tabletop, waving her back down then looked back to Peterson.

"Tread carefully here Mister Peterson" Andrea sank back into her seat, before standing again at Peterson's next words.

"They entered into an illicit affair..." Andrea wasn't going to tolerate that one, on her feet in a flash.

"Objection! Both officers informed LAPD Human Resources within one week of entering into a relationship, hardly illicit, which I will point out, has a very specific meaning in law" Craven thought that one over for a moment and nodded at Andrea then looked over at Peterson and spoke.

"Sustained, the jury will disregard that statement" Andrea sat again, as Peterson moved around the table and towards the jury.

"That both officers hid their activities from other officers..." This time it was my turn to stand.

"Objection! Appropriate arrangements were made to avoid conflicts of interest within one week and both of their squads and their superior, the LAPDs Chief Pope, were aware that they were together within two weeks of entering a relationship" I shook my head at Peterson's idiocy. "I don't know about you but that hardly seems to fit the definition of hiding their activities, though perhaps defence is speaking from personal experience..." I left that hanging but noted a few half smiles amongst the jury; Peterson looked like he was going to say something but instead stayed quiet as Craven nodded, more slowly this time.

"Sustained, the jury will disregard that statement" I sat down as Peterson turned back to the jury and started again.

"That these officers saw the actions of the defendants as a threat to their relationship, their knowledge of their office romance was unwelcome and that it potentially exposed their extracurricular activities to the wider LAPD community, which would have placed unwelcome publicity on their relationship" Andrea stood wearily.

"Objection Your Honour, nothing but sheer speculation" Craven raised an eyebrow then looked to Peterson.

"Well Defence?" Peterson was unfazed; obviously he'd expected this as he had an answer ready to trot out.

"One of these officers is still married, thus they had something to lose if their affair became public" Andrea sighed and ran her hand through her hair, the gesture easily conveying her annoyance at Peterson's tactics as I hid a small smile at her theatrics.

"Your honor, Chief Johnson is separated, awaiting her divorce being finalised. Separation is not a crime, at least not in any jurisdiction in the United States that I am aware of" She turned to face Peterson. "Perhaps Mister Peterson may be able to update us with some information only he is privy to?" Craven looked across to Peterson, his expression inviting him to reply.

"A divorce is all the more reason for Johnson and Raydor to keep it hidden" Peterson stated. "An affair carried out at work, behind the backs of her colleagues, would hardly look good during divorce proceedings, all the more reason both women would try to conceal their sordid liaisons from others" Andrea didn't bother hiding her disdain.

"I suggest that Defence may be speaking from his own experience here, given his reputation…" She elegantly shrugged before continuing. "…I'll leave the sordid liaisons to him, but Chief Johnson's marital status and relationship status hardly seems germane to this trial"

"Counselor..." Andrea looked back at Craven, tilting her head to one side in query as she spoke, her voice guileless.

"Yes Your Honour?" Craven made a 'sit down' gesture.

"Enough, for now, Mister Peterson, continue" As Andrea sat Peterson started up again.

"Yes Your Honour. To make an example of these officers, Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor conspired to ensure that the defendants were not given the opportunity to provide information that may have led to the actual perpetrators of these crimes, instead being bound and determined to send innocent, hard-working members of the LAPD and Justice Department to prison for crimes they did not commit" Peterson looked back at our table, almost expecting an objection, raising an eyebrow when none was forthcoming, then continuing. "That potentially critical information that the defendant's possessed that might lead to major advances against the Sinaloa Cartel was in fact disregarded by Johnson and Raydor because they wanted to keep their sordid affair under wraps"

I looked at Andrea who was frowning darkly at Peterson then stood, crossing my arms and summoning the coldest expression I could muster; it must have worked as Craven looked across at me and almost winced.

"Yes counselor?" he asked as I shrugged, trying hard to convey the very real contempt I felt towards Peterson as I spoke, not looking at Craven.

"Just allowing Defence to dig himself a deeper hole so I can bury him in it, Your Honor, standing now saves time later" I stared across at where Peterson was standing there looking at me shaking his head, then turned my head to look at Craven. "After all, I'm sure he'll say something particularly tawdry, contemptuous and objectionable soon enough" Craven's mouth twitched slightly while there were a few sniggers from the gallery and even from the jurors before Craven waved his hand in my direction.

"Please sit counselor"

 **New York NYPD Central Crime Lab**

Mac Taylor laughed out loud at Cabot's comment. He was in his office in the New York Police Department Crime Lab, working though staff recruitment paperwork, they'd lost one of their admin people on maternity leave and had to replace them, all of which generated a mountain of red tape and paperwork. He was reading through the interview summary of the preferred candidate for the role with one eye cocked to the television in the corner. He'd heard about the trial and decided to tune in, surprised to discover that Alex Cabot was one of the prosecutors; he'd last seen her during that horrible child sex slavery trial, the night the last of the kids had died.

He mentally shrugged. Maybe she'd wanted to put some distance between the case and her, well her and her partner Olivia Benson both. Benson in particular had taken that case real hard, to the point that he'd been worried about her health and wellbeing. He hadn't missed that Benson was in the court either, seeing her and another woman in the background standing up against the wall watching over the public and media galleries, obviously on security detail.

He hoped NYC hadn't permanently lost them both to LA, they were both damned good at their jobs, before mentally shrugging, time would tell. In the meantime he was enjoying the trial, it looked like one well worth following, if for no other reason than to see a pissed Alex Cabot tearing the Defence apart, something he was looking forward to.

 **In Court**

"Counsel, take a seat and let the defence continue to make his point. Mister Peterson, I dearly hope you actually have one" I sat down and turned to watch Peterson.

"Yes your honour, these women actively worked to build a case based on their well-known distaste for the hard-working officers of the LAPD's Robbery / Homicide division" Andrea's eyebrows lifted convulsively as she stood, one hand on her hip, the other sweeping across to the defence table.

"Your Honor, I object" Craven looked to her.

"Object to what Counselor?" Andrea waved Peterson's way.

"As fascinating as these far-fetched tales of conspiracy that the Defence seems hell bent on weaving may be, no matter how worthy they may be of inclusion in the National Inquirer, would it be too much to ask the defence to stick to two things; the first being facts and the second relevance?" The judge looked from her to Peterson, his eyebrow rising in an unspoken question.

"Your Honor, we plan to show that both woman were motivated by spite and dislike for their peers in Robbery / Homicide, from the leader of the Robbery / Homicide team, Commander Robert Taylor, a decorated, thirty-three year veteran of the force, right down to the hard working rank and file of the division" Peterson said. Andrea sighed dramatically, removing her glasses and dropping them on the table before leaning forward and resting against the table with one hand, the other massaging her eyes, before looking at Peterson with the resigned air of one much put upon.

"Your Honor, might I trouble you to once again enquire with the defence as to the relevance of this line of debate?" Craven looked from her to Peterson and spoke up.

"And your response is, Defence?"

"Deputy Chief Johnson forced Commander Taylor out of the Major Crimes division, it was well known that she hated and loathed him, she forced him out of Major Crimes but her antipathy continued, antipathy which she extended to Commander Taylor's squad"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Robbery / Homicide**

"Well, that's about the first true statement that he's made all day" Sharon Raydor muttered to herself, carefully peeling apart a mandarin as she watched the television in the corner of her office in Robbery Homicide. "Brenda loathes and despises Taylor even more than I do and that's saying something" she concluded.

Working in the privacy of her office there was no one there to hear her comment; anyway if some of her squad saw her talking to herself, well their only surprise would be that she didn't do it more often. Given she was going to be fronting the court and Peterson's cross examination soon enough, she felt she could be excused a little idiosyncrasy or two.

 **In Court**

Andrea looked at me, flicking me a barely there wink, before slowly shaking her head then straightening, the move drawing the jury's attention. Clasping her hands behind her back and strolling forward, Andrea's attitude and posture conveying casual nonchalance. As she moved into the centre of the room, I nodded to myself slowly, Andrea was a master at the drama of a courtroom; I knew I was no slouch either but there were things I could learn from her here.

"Your Honor, Commander Taylor was transferred from a deputy position in Major Crimes to head up his own, larger squad in Robbery/Homicide, allowing him to take the lessons learned and experience gained under Deputy Chief Johnson and apply it to his new, more senior role" She threw her hands wide, all innocence. "If this is some sort of way of showing antipathy well..." She looked across at the jury, taking them in and smiled innocently. "I'm sure we'd all like to be on the receiving end of similar treatment"

 **New York 1PP**

It was late afternoon in New York where Casey Novak sat back in her office in 1 Police Plaza and smiled to herself; she'd arranged her schedule to, as much as possible, free up the late afternoons for her to work in her office and watch the trial, it was going out live and was pretty compelling viewing.

As expected Alex wasn't taking a backwards step in this case, not that she ever did, though the judge was allowing the defence to get away with, in her opinion, way too much, but to their credit Alex and the other prosecutor, Hobbs, were giving them as good as they got. Alex hadn't had a chance to unleash on Peterson yet, but that was coming and frankly Casey couldn't wait to see Alex at her brutal best as she eviscerated the defence.

Until then the case was fascinating viewing and she continued to watch, as did millions of people across America.

 **In Court**

Craven looked from Andrea to Peterson and back again then spoke.

"Resume your seat counselor, the objection is sustained, Defence, this particular avenue isn't getting you anywhere, I suggest you try another" Peterson sighed, though I suspected he'd been on a fishing expedition, not really expecting to get too far with it.

"Yes Your Honor" As Andrea sat Peterson got rolling again; if this was the sort of slime he was going to be throwing I could see a long and tedious series of objections ahead, all the way through his summation, running the risk that the jury would see the Prosecution as quarrelsome and determined to prevent the Defence being heard. That might hurt their view of both the case and us, making me wonder if this was part of Peterson's strategy, attempting to negatively taint the jury's perceptions.

"We will point out that much of the prosecution's case is circumstantial, they cannot produce solid, factual evidence linking the defendants with the crimes they have been falsely accused of" Peterson walked towards the jury, turning to take in his clients and incidentally one of the cameras. "The farfetched nature of the prosecution's case can be summed up in one sentence; can anyone here honestly believe that six highly-regarded members of the Los Angeles Police Department and a trusted Justice Department employee suddenly took it upon themselves to act as vigilantes…" He waved towards the defendants who sat there, all trying to look like apostles of moral rectitude. "…let alone sought out a connection with international organised crime to act as their surrogates here in our city" Peterson didn't try and hide his scorn. "A plot that ridiculous would be rejected by any studio in Hollywood as too fanciful for words, no one there would believe such a ludicrous fairy tale and we will demonstrate why you should not believe it either"

I shared a glance with Andrea that could only be described as 'long-suffering'. It was going to be a very long day.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

I was going over the facts we had in the magic murders case, all of which didn't really amount to a pile of beans. Someone was out there, killing middle-aged women for their innards and we were no closer to solving it than we were after the first killing.

Every now and then I'd glance up to take in the television screening in the corner of my computer screen, Buzz and Kahn had worked some IT magic and we were getting the main cable coverage on our desk computers. It was a neat bit of work but I had to keep the amount I was watching to a minimum otherwise I was gonna get angry and upset at some of the filth that man was attempting to smear us with.

It looked like they were going after us because Sharon and I were involved, which suggested that they were declaring open season on all of us for being gay. Given both Andrea and Alex were too I found myself wondering if Peterson and his people would dare go after them too. I felt my lips quirk, I couldn't see that ending well for them, Andrea didn't take that sort of stupidity lightly and Alex, she had a venomous tongue on her when she let it loose.

I smiled crookedly, almost hoping in a way that Peterson crossed the line and did something that Andrea and Alex could go to town on. Looking to the screen and hearing Peterson going on and on about how because we were involved our objectivity was non-existent I winced a little and reminded myself of the old adage to be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

It looked like I was going to get my wish.


	3. Chapter 3

**Intersecting Lines** **–** **The Trial**

 **Part 03** **– The Black Widow**

 **In Court**

Andrea's viewpoint

Ana was on the stand and Alex was leading her through the information she'd gained on how Hammond was the source inside the Justice Department's local office while I ran the laptop connected to a huge television screen we'd had set up facing the rest of the court and not coincidentally, two of the cameras. I was waiting to flip through the on-screen images to show the evidence we had there as Alex spoke.

"So Agent Romanov, could you explain how you came to isolate the defendant Joan Hammond as the source of the leak within Justice?" Ana nodded carefully and sat forward slightly, ensuring the microphone and therefore both the jury and the watching world heard her message loud and clear.

"We commenced our investigation from the point of view that given the information on the Witness Program protectee's was very tightly held, the information on the now-deceased members had to have come from within the small group within the Department that had access to those details" Alex nodded.

"That sounds reasonable, so what did your investigation ascertain?' Ana looked directly at the jury as she replied, obviously wanting to make sure she was understood.

"That only three people within the Justice Department office here in Los Angeles had regular access to the information on all the deceased victims" Alex nodded.

"And they were…" she asked.

The Section Head; Senior Agent Richard Lopez, the immediate supervisor of the section that included the Witness Protection database; Special Agent Curtis Robertson and the data entry specialist; Joan Hammond" At Ana's words I flipped the image to show a blow up of Hammond's Justice Department I.D. as Alex nodded and invited Ana to continue.

"Please tell the court how you came to the conclusion that the defendant Joan Hammond was your suspect Special Agent" Ana nodded at the question and looked over at the jury as she replied.

"We were able to discount Senior Agent Lopez as he had been posted to Europe when the first of the victim's was killed, he was working with Interpol at the time which somewhat discounted his involvement" Alex nodded and prompted her to continue.

"Please go on" Ana looked from Alex back to the jury and continued.

"We investigated both Special Agent Robertson and Joan Hammond, however our investigation indicated that Robertson did not actually access the database all that often and a check of his log-in details confirmed that he had accessed details of only three of the deceased" Alex nodded, looking like it was all new to her and she was taking it all in just like the jury then prompted Ana to expand on her answer.

"You said he had however accessed three of the victims, could you explain the circumstances in which he did do so?" Ana smiled briefly and nodded then answered; her voice clearly heard.

"Special Agent Robertson accessed the database to close the files of those three victims" She shrugged. "In each case it was after they had been reported deceased" I nodded as Alex tapped her chin for a moment, apparently in thought, I had to hand it to her, Alex was good at the theatre of a court, always looking as if she was helping the Jury get to the bottom of the case, the ever helpful prosecutor, trying to find the truth at the bottom of the testimony. Alex looked up as if inspiration had hit and spoke.

"If Agent Robertson closed three of the files, could you please explain who accessed the database to close the files on the other victims?" Ana's reply was confident.

"Prior to her arrest, it had been Ms Hammond" Alex nodded and prompted Ana with another question.

"Not Senior Agent Lopez?" Ana shook her head.

"No, according to an exhaustive search of all records, while Senior Agent Lopez theoretically had access, he delegated that responsibility to Agent Robertson and Ms Hammond" Alex turned to the jury and summarized for them.

"So you were able to narrow it down to just these two people who had access to the database, what made you single out Ms. Hammond?" Ana leaned forward a little closer to the microphone, she was experienced at this; making sure no one missed her words.

"A notation in her personnel file that she was a widower and that her name was that of her deceased husband" Ana sat back slightly but her voice was clear. "I then undertook a search of Joan Hammond under her maiden name of Joan Richards, which in turn led me to her mother. A photo posted on social media where Joan Hammond was tagged with her mother, also contained another suspect, Detective Sergeant Paul Kennedy" At that cue I clicked the mouse and the image in question appeared, with Hammond and Kennedy's faces circled in red. There was a ripple or movement across the court as people sat up and heads turned to look between the image and Hammond and Kennedy at the defendant's tables as Alex hammered the point home.

"And their relationship was…"

"They were half brother and sister" Alex nodded in understanding as Ana pressed on. "I ascertained that Joan Hammond's maiden name was Richards. Paul Kennedy's mother bore him then remarried when her first husband, Tom Kennedy, died in a car accident few years after their son, Paul Kennedy, was born. The mother's second husband was Matthew Richards, four years after that marriage she had her daughter Joan, who took the father's surname" I smiled for the jury's and camera's benefit as I flipped the image to show a California Birth Certificate in the name of Joan Richards, seeing Alex turning to the jury as she spoke.

"So we have a prime-facie connection between the primary suspect in the deaths of these Witness Protection program protectee's and a person of interest who could access the database" She paused as Ana nodded while I watched the Defence team, they were obviously looking for something to object to but there was no opportunity to do so, the evidence was as factual as it was unambiguous, making me smile slightly at their frustration. Alex continued with her questioning. "Could you please tell the jury what confirmed for you that Joan Hammond was in fact the leak within the system and not Special Agent Robertson" Ana's reply was calmly confident, she knew her evidence was rock solid.

"Initially we found no evidence and a check of the data logs showed no access. However after talking to the Justice Department's Information Technology section here in Los Angeles, they were able to cross reference with backup tapes made separately from the daily logs and discovered that Joan Hammond had in fact accessed each of the deceased's files prior to their death. In fact she had downloaded the details of each person when she had reason to access their file for work, printed off the details and then accessed the data logs and removed the notation that she had downloaded and printed the data"

"So the Justice Department system recorded such information?" Ana nodded and leaned forward as she answered to make sure everyone heard her words.

"Oh yes, every use of the system, every change and every printout of the information in the system was recorded for security purposes" Alex turned back to Ana and asked the question.

"Why didn't she just download them all at once, rather than doing them over time and risking being caught or leaving an electronic trail?"

"Apparently Joan Hammond was only supposed to access each file when there was a reason to update them, which required her supervisor's sign-off. She would then open the file and make any updates required, while surreptitiously downloading the data before then using her user privileges to erase the logs showing the details had been downloaded and printed" Alex tipped her head to regard Ana.

"If she deleted the data, how did you find the details proving that she had, in fact, done so?" Ana leaned forward again as she spoke.

"The I.T. people at Justice run real-time backups of their network activity, something not generally known within the department. No one was looking at Joan Hammond and cross referencing the differences between the logs in the Witness Protection system computers with the wider Justice Department backups until they were asked to, at which time the tampering was clear as day" Alex summarised it for the jurors.

"So Joan Hammond thought she was covering her tracks but once you went looking you found clear evidence of her activities?" Ana nodded slowly, keeping her attention on Alex, letting the jurors and the camera's focus in on her as she spoke, calmly and clearly, even as she metaphorically hammered nails into Hammond's coffin.

"Oh yes, it took Justice's IT people less than an hour once they knew what they were looking for" Alex nodded gratefully as I flipped to the next image on screen, showing scans of two similar print outs, with discrepancies circled in red, making them easily seen.

"If I could direct your attention to the printouts on the screen Agent Romanov, could you confirm that each discrepancy highlighted is Joan Hammond downloading and printing the information?" Ana nodded as she explained what the jury was looking at.

"Yes, according to the unmodified system back-up data on the screen's right side, at various times Joan Hammond used her access to the individual Witness Protection individuals files and printed out the records of each of the eight protectee's, then erased the records that she had done so each time, not aware that the real time back up was recording exactly what she was doing" Alex nodded then asked a follow up question.

"Why not just download the data to a memory stick and avoid the need to print out the information?" Ana smiled slightly.

"The computers Agent Robertson and Joan Hammond used had no USB ports or CD drives as a security feature, there was no way to copy the data to a secondary storage medium" She paused then continued before Alex could ask the inevitable follow up question. "As another security feature the computers used for managing the program were not connected to the net, either via Wi-Fi or hard line, to avoid potential hacking attempts" Alex nodded.

"So therefore there was no chance to email the data?" Ana smiled and nodded at Alex as she replied.

"That was all part of the methods Justice employed to try and keep the Witness Protection data secure. Basically the Justice Department took all reasonable precautions to protect the identity of the people inside the Witness Program" Alex nodded then spoke; her tone a little rueful.

"But not, unfortunately, from spying by trusted insiders" Ana shook her head as she replied.

"Regrettably no"

We broke for lunch before reconvening, this time I led the questioning and had walked Ana through the ambush and the aftermath, by the time we'd wrapped up it was mid-afternoon.

"Thank you Agent Romanov" Looking up to Craven I spoke. "No further questions of this witness at this time Your Honour" As I turned and strode back to my chair I glanced at Peterson and smiled politely.

"Your witness" As he nodded and Ling started to rise I looked her way and gave her a small, smile. ' _For all the good it will do you_ '

 **Washington DC The Pentagon**

Colonel Sarah Mackenzie smiled to herself as she watched the defence woman start her cross examination of Ana on the television in her office in the Judge Advocate General's section of the Pentagon, the evidence was good and she knew Ana well; Ling might as well try and question the First Amendment, she'd have more luck there. Ana was rock solid; Ling was wasting her time trying to trip her up on factual evidence like that.

Sarah smiled to herself, a trifle maliciously; who knows, if she said something truly stupid Ana might really let loose on her, after all Ana didn't suffer fools gladly. The thought filled her with an evil anticipation as she settled back to watch.

 **In Court**

"Agent Romanov" Ling started. "You have stated that you investigated Joan Hammond and once you determined that she had a familial relationship with Paul Kennedy, you investigated further" Ana nodded carefully.

"That is correct" Ling nodded as she stood to one side, forcing Ana to look away from the jury if she was to address her.

"So you found a hypothesis that fitted your prejudices and immediately concentrated on that, rather than continuing to investigate" Ana raised an eyebrow at Ling, then turned to look at the jury, directing her answer to the people who counted.

"I would hardly categorise it as that, rather a new and more promising line of investigation opening up"

"But would it be true to say you discounted any and all other avenues of investigation as you put it, to pursue one fairly tenuous lead?" Ana shrugged and sat back.

"You might do so but I wouldn't consider it in that context"

"Why not, you found something that accorded with your personal prejudices and ignored any and all alternative possibilities" Ana narrowed her eyes; I could tell she was not impressed with Ling's assertions, something her next reply confirmed.

"From your position as a lawyer you might call it that Miss Ling; investigators however call that following a lead" Ling nodded agreeably.

"Investigators might, but you're not an investigator are you Agent Romanov" I saw Ana's jaw tighten grimly as she spoke.

"I beg your pardon?" Ling tried for innocent.

"You're not though, an investigator that is; you're a bureaucrat, a messenger between the LAPD and the FBI" She shrugged, 'That is what your role is, isn't it?" Ana leaned forward as she replied.

"I am the Bureau's liaison officer to the LAPD" Ling smiled.

"Exactly! Not an investigator's role is it" Ana shook her head.

"That is my role right now; previously I was a field agent" Ling tipped her head to regard Ana as she spoke.

"As liaison to the Seattle PD? Really?" Ana shook her head before replying.

"Before I was a liaison officer I was a field agent with the Seattle Field office"

"Not a very good one apparently, your biggest achievement was being stabbed as I understand it" I saw Ana's eyes widen in shock and was on my feet before I realised it.

"Objection your Honour, what exactly does injuries Agent Romanov received years ago in the course of her duties in a different state have to do with this case?" Craven looked to Ling.

"Well Defence?" Ling turned and smiled at Craven.

"Your Honour, we seek to ascertain Special Agent Romanov's qualifications to act as an investigator in a capital case" I tipped my head to regard Craven who shrugged and nodded.

"Proceed" I slowly sat as Ana's jaw set, her eyes turning to face Ling who smiled a little wider.

"Thank you Your Honour. Now then Agent Romanov, let's discuss your qualifications" She took a few steps back and retrieved a tablet from the Defence table, lifting it up, with a few swipes she started it up and started reading as she drifted back towards the jury.

"Special Agent Romanov, currently liaison officer to the LAPD and before that liaison officer to the Seattle PD. Prior to that a junior agent assigned to work with a more senior agent who filed some less than complimentary reports on your performance" I opened my mouth to say something but Andrea laid a hand on my arm, catching my attention and shook her head. "Hardly a stellar vote of confidence there, so after that you were transferred to work with a different agent and during a case you were working on with him, you ran off on your own during an arrest and confronted a suspect who stabbed you. In return you shot and killed him" Ling said. "Do I have the facts right Agent Romanov?" Ana shook her head then spoke, her voice under tight control.

"The facts, as you call them and as you have interpreted them, do bear some vague resemblance to what actually happened"

"Do you dispute what I have just said?" Ana sized Ling up and sat back, her mouth turning up in a cold smile.

"Not right now, I'm interested to see just how far you intend twisting what actually happened to suit your own purposes" Craven leaned forward and spoke.

"The witness will confine themselves to answering the question" Ana looked his way and nodded as Ling nodded, smiling at Craven.

"Thank you Your Honour. Agent Romanov, before you were shipped out to Seattle you were stationed in Washington at a desk job where you received average assessments at best" Ling shrugged. "Hardly the basis for a stellar career in investigations" She threw the jury a glance. "Did they send you to Seattle to get you out of the way?" Ana shook her head as she explained.

"It is Bureau policy that no agent goes directly out in the field after graduation from Quantico; everyone does a stint behind a desk, usually in Washington, learning about the bureaucracy and the behind the scenes part of the Bureau, only once you complete that are you then assigned to a field office as Special Agent"

"But you had assessments that could best be described as distinctly average at best" Ana shrugged.

"I wasn't all that happy behind a desk, I prefer being out and about on field operations" Ling nodded.

"Field operations, ah yes, let's talk about your 'field operations'…" she put it in quotes. "Your exploits on field operations are well known" Ana frowned, obviously wondering where this was going. "Your 'field operations' resulted in one suspect shot dead in Seattle, a man beaten to a pulp here in Los Angeles and another executed by you on the streets of this city" Ling shook her head. "Your field operations all have a common thread, violence resulting in death and maiming" Ana leaned forward, her voice low and clipped with anger.

"I shot a man in Seattle after he stabbed me twice in the chest and stomach, the man in Los Angeles was a cold-blooded murderer who not only resisted arrest but tried to repeatedly stab me and the LAPD officer I was with while the man I shot on the streets of LA was in the act of shooting an AK47 assault rifle at me and my colleagues"

"And yet each of them resulted in a dead or near dead suspect" Ling held her hands apart like she was asking something. "It seems as if you're more a loose cannon than an investigator" Ana kept her voice quiet, though I could tell it was an effort.

"You might categorise it like that, I don't and neither did the Bureau and LAPD who investigated those incidents" Ling shook her head.

"Probably didn't want your exploits embarrassing them" She lowered her voice and smiled a little conspiratorially, though I knew the camera and jury heard her just fine. "We both know how these things get…overlooked" Ana started to scowl then with effort regained her calm as I stood.

"Objection Your Honour, the Defence is suggesting corruption in both the LAPD and FBI with no tangible proof to back up her claims" Craven thought it over, nodded, turning to Ling and putting her on the spot.

"Do you have any such evidence to support your assertion Counselor?" Ling shook her head and smiled.

"I withdraw the statement Your Honour" Craven nodded as I sat down while Ling turned her attention back to Ana, unfazed by her rebuke.

"So Agent Romanov, your action led to one man beaten to a pulp and two dead, not the best record would you agree?"

"You can insinuate all you like, but that's not what happened"

"Insinuate, I'm just stating the facts Agent Romanov" She smiled. "Then there's your record in Iraq…" Ana's head lifted in surprise.

"What about Iraq?"

"You had quite the reputation there Agent Romanov, or should that be Captain Romanov? You amassed quite the fearsome reputation amongst your peers" Ana watched Ling through narrowed eyes as I tried to intervene again.

"Your Honour, once again I am moved to ask what exactly do Agent Romanov's actions while a serving member of the US Army more than a decade ago have to do with her testimony in this case?" Ling jumped in before Craven could speak.

"Your Honour, we seek to establish a pattern of behavior that calls into question the witnesses credibility as a competent investigator, instead highlighting a pattern of behavior that rendered the witness unsuitable for investigative work of any kind" Craven thought about it then nodded as my gorge rose, I felt like throwing up.

"Sit down counselor, Defence has the floor" Ling smiled and turned back.

"In Iraq you were considered a loose cannon weren't you?" Ana was grim.

"No"

"Really, I note your reputation as someone who actively sought out danger; your colleagues noted that you regularly volunteered for the most dangerous duties, the ones that were most likely to lead to firefights and combat. You were more interested in combat than investigations, weren't you?" Ana shook her head as she answered.

"I was a military police officer; that means we go out with the troops when conducting investigations, so there's an MP on the ground to gather evidence, interrogate suspects and ensure compliance with both local law and the Uniform Code of Military Justice""

"But you weren't there to investigate were you, instead you were there for the thrill of combat" This time it was Andrea who stood.

"Your Honour, how do the defence's amateurish attempts at psychoanalysis of events that happened a decade ago actually have any relevance to the case?" Craven looked to Ling who smiled.

"Your Honour, we seek to establish that the witness was a substandard investigator and detective who was considered a liability by the Army and the FBI, they knew she was unstable and kept her away from investigative work, instead she was channeled toward more violent activities where her training as a killer was of more use"

"What the hell?" It was Ana. "Where the hell do you get that idea?" Craven turned to her and spoke harshly.

"The witness will remain silent" For a second I thought Ana was going to lose it before she got herself under control then sat back. Craven turned from her to Andrea. "Counselor, Defence will have their chance to demonstrate relevance" He glanced at Ling. "Defence, I trust you can demonstrate the relevance of this line of questioning?" Ling nodded, all smiles.

"Indeed we can Your Honour" Craven nodded.

"Then proceed" Andrea sat down, glancing her way I could see the muscles bunching in her jaw, she was as pissed as I was. Ling turned back to Ana.

"By the time your service in Iraq was up you were on the way out of the military weren't you, given your unsatisfactory fitness reports" She hefted the tablet and read from it. "Captain Romanov exhibits classic signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, combat fatigue and psychological and emotional exhaustion" I didn't miss the shock on Ana's face as Ling pressed on. "Her judgment is increasingly questionable and she is reported to actively seek out the most dangerous combat missions where she invariably takes point. This self-destructive behavior warrants grave concern and it is recommended that she be removed from active duty immediately" There was shock in Ana's voice as well.

"Where the hell did you get that?" It was Ana, leaning forward in the witness box. "That's supposed to be a confidential medical assessment" Ling turned a grin on Ana as she explained.

"Service records of non-serving members are declassified a decade after discharge, so a Freedom of Information request saw them provided" She glanced at Craven. "I am happy to table them as evidence" Craven nodded and she turned back to Ana. "Do you deny that the information I've just read out is your final psychological assessment in Iraq, before they discharged you?" Ling's face hardened. "A yes or no answer please Miss Romanov"

 **Washington DC Washington Navy Yard**

Sitting in his office Leroy Gibbs clenched his jaw in frustration; feeling pissed at the way the woman in court was slandering Romanov. He'd worked with the woman in Iraq; she was a loyal, dedicated and extremely competent officer, she sure as hell didn't deserve this sort of treatment. The bit about her medical records set his teeth on edge. While what the Ling woman had said was true, personnel records were declassified a decade after discharge, there was a policy covering that, somehow that had not happened here. He grabbed his desk phone and dialed an internal extension, seconds later Nick Torres walked in.

"What's up?" Gibbs indicated the screen.

"Former serving member now giving evidence in a capital case, the defence just rolled out her medical history in court, including an adverse psyche evaluation, to try and undermine her evidence. Obviously she didn't know about it which is a major breach of protocol right there; …no release of documents is to take place without notification of the former member prior to release…" he quoted. "I want to know what the hell happened here" Torres nodded.

"Sure thing, who is she?" Gibbs handed over a post it note.

"Anastasia Romanov, former Major in the US Army, an MP" Torres looked up, surprised.

"Army? Since when do we clean up Army stuff ups?" The sudden look on Gibb's face told him he'd just screwed up.

"When you're told to, unless you have something else you'd rather be doing? Which can be arranged" Seeing the sudden change of expression on Torres's face Gibbs gave him some context. "I served with Romanov in Iraq, she's an outstanding investigator, if she wasn't Army and still serving she'd probably be working here, maybe as my deputy, maybe as my boss, she's that good" Torres nodded slowly, Gibbs didn't give praise like that often, this Romanov woman must be good "She's settled down in LA now and is happy, I want to know why she was blindsided by this woman…" He waved at the television screen. "…about her medical records" He looked up. "I want to know how this happened" He got a nod.

"I'll get right on it" Seeing his boss return his attention to the screen he decided to get the hell out of there, Gibbs was pissed and while it didn't happen often absolutely no one wanted to be on the receiving end of a Gibbs-style dressing down, speaking of which Gibbs glanced his way and spoke, his voice harsh.

"Dismissed"

 **In Court**

"Well Miss Romanov?" Ana looked like she was having teeth pulled without anesthetic, finally answering.

"It was one assessment yes" Ling smiled.

"Excellent, so the Army considered you too much of a loose cannon and yanked you out of Iraq, a war zone, because you were too dangerous to let loose" Ana shook her head.

"No, that's not what happened" Ling shrugged and made a show of checking the tablet she was holding.

"It says you resigned before they could reassign you" She looked at Ana and shrugged. "Decided your reputation was in ruins and fled did you?"

"No. That is not what happened at all" Ana repeated as Ling shrugged again.

"That's what your service record shows" She turned to the jury who, based on the looks on their faces were a combination of confused and concerned. "We have a military policewoman who was too dangerous to be kept working in a war zone" Ling shook her head theatrically. "Must be bad if she was too dangerous for Iraq" Taking a few steps away from the steaming Ana she kept addressing the jury. "We have a woman who preferred combat to investigations, when the Army tried to pull her out she quit and found work with the Bureau, who also found her a loose cannon and shunted her into liaison work, driving a desk where her violent tendencies and poor investigative record were hopefully under control. Unfortunately it appears that tactic was unsuccessful, as the actions witnessed on the streets of Seattle and Los Angeles and the dead and broken bodies she left in her wake prove"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Media Centre**

Natalie Dearing looked from the television screen in the corner of her office and called out to her assistant.

"Lilly, can you come here please?" Her executive assistant turned and, seeing the expression on her bosses' face, quickly hurried into her office to find Natalie packing up and shutting down her computer.

"What's wrong Nat?"

"I'm wrapping early" Lilly frowned, obviously mentally going through the calendar for the rest of the day, before Natalie interrupted her. "I know I have a couple of meetings, please send my apologies, tell them something came up" Lilly nodded then spoke.

"Are you okay?" Natalie shook her head angrily.

"Not after that fiasco in court, Ana's going to be angry and upset and miserable and pissed so she'll really need me" Lilly nodded, she knew the bond between Anastasia and Natalie, knew that nothing came between them, something she somewhat wistfully envied both of them for having.

"Right, is there anything I can do for you?" Natalie shook her head then looked up, a grim expression on her face.

"Keep me away from guns or that lawyer bitch is likely to end up dead" Lilly nodded, already resolving to check the trial coverage, for her normally almost-disgustingly cheerful boss to be in a mood this foul it must have been bad. She watched as Natalie tossed the last few things into her bag, grabbed her cell and car keys and started moving.

"Sorry to dump all that on you with no warning but Ana needs me" Lilly nodded.

"It's all good, go be with her" With a quick thanks Natalie was moving, out the office and heading for the elevators as Lilly frowned before heading back to her desk, she had emails and phone calls to make, plus she needed to know what the hell had just happened in court.

 **In Court**

Ling spun on her heel and faced Ana.

"How many bureau-sanctioned investigations have you undertaken since your assignment as liaison officer, first with the Seattle PD and more recently with the LAPD" Ana's face was grim.

"None; that is not my job as a liaison officer" Ling raised her hand, stopping her.

"But here you were sticking your nose into investigations that were not sanctioned by your superiors and which you lacked either the temperament or the skills to undertake" Ling tipped her head to regard her. "Your poor investigative record and violent tendencies should have kept you far from any investigation, just as the Bureau intended" I glanced at Andrea, seeing her grim expression as she looked for an opening as Ling continued. "You should never have been involved in this investigation, instead you leapt into it, followed your first, wayward lead, ignoring any others that may have been equally valid and went looking for any evidence you could find that supported your tenuous, prejudiced conclusions against an honest, hard-working Justice Department employee, simply on the basis of a distant family relationship" Ling looked at Ana and continued. "You ceased looking into any other suspect the moment you found a tenuous link didn't you, ignoring any other possibility?" Ana sat there and was silent for a few seconds, staring at Ling, her silence prompting Craven to intervene.

"The witness will answer the question" Ana glanced at him and nodded then leaned forward, the better to be heard as I saw her expression change, the frown vanishing, I realised that Ling had overplayed her hand, giving her an opening.

"I don't know about you Miss Ling, given all your 'obvious experience'…" The scorn in Ana's voice was a sharp, dangerous thing. "…as an investigator but when you find a clue you follow it wherever it leads. I mean John F Kennedy might have been shot by aliens but investigators tend to discount the unlikely and the speculative and concentrate on the factual and the facts led to Lee Harvey Oswald" She leaned forward a little closer to the mike. "In this case there was a definitive, factual link between Joan Hammond and the man who had been recorded asking for me, my partner and my fellow officers to be killed" She shrugged. "Facts like that are hard to ignore" Ling frowned for a moment then cleared the expression before speaking.

"Please confine yourself to answering the question asked Miss Romanov"

"It's Agent Romanov, Miss Ling and I'm more than happy to provide the full and 'complete'…" Ana stressed the word. "…answer to your questions" Undeterred Ling started off on a different tack.

"You were assigned to the Liaison role were you not?'

"Yes" Ling strolled towards the jury, aiming her words at them.

"That was to keep you away from the streets was it not?" Ana shook her head.

"No, I was assigned the role in Seattle while I recovered from life-threatening injuries"

"Received when you shot and killed a man, correct?" Ana nodded once.

"After he stabbed me twice, nearly killing me"

"I understand you are expert in unarmed combat, is that not correct Agent Romanov?" Surprised by the change of topic and suspicious of where Ling was going Ana replied carefully.

"I have some training, yes" Ling made a wave away gesture.

"No need to be so modest Agent Romanov. Your reputation suggests you are quite skilled, other officers in the LAPD re reluctant to spar against you due to the injuries they receive, to the point that most will not contemplate going up against you" She chuckled and shook her head. "Some call you the Black Widow after the Marvel movie assassin" Ana sat back as she replied.

"I haven't heard that" she shrugged as she continued. "Be that as it may be, I train hard; others who haven't aren't as capable; just the same as in any endeavor or sport" Ling jumped on that.

"If you are so capable then why did you have to shoot and kill the suspect in Seattle?" Ana was calm.

"He ambushed me, stabbing me before I could defend myself"

"So you killed him" Ana shook her head.

"I shot him in self defence before he could stab me again"

"And here in Seattle you executed a man on the streets in cold blood, rather than use your unarmed combat skills" Ana sat forward at that, her voice sharp.

"The man you refer to was armed with an assault rifle Ms. Ling, he'd just shot up the car I'd been travelling in and had just reloaded, attacking a man with a loaded weapon with your bare hands isn't like Hollywood; you're likely to get shot to pieces"

"So instead you shot him, once in the stomach and the second time, deliberately in the head"

"As I said, he had an AK-47, I couldn't take the risk that he wouldn't fire again" Ling shook her head, all sadness.

"So you executed a wounded man with a shot to the head" She tipped her head to regard Ana. "Was that your training as a killer from your Army days coming into play?" Ana didn't bite; her voice calm.

"I made the decision that preventing him from firing his weapon, possibly killing others"

"How could you know that Agent Romanov, how could you be so sure? He was lying in the street with a bullet from your gun in his stomach" Surprisingly Ana smiled; Ling, too confident, had overstepped again.

"If he had managed to shoot the weapon, which he was still holding by the way, in my direction, and missed me, there were innocent bystanders behind me in the line of fire" Ana shrugged. "I neutralized the threat to those bystanders, as opposed to risking him shooting either them or me, noting that none of us were wearing body armour at the time"

Realising she wasn't helping her case Ling looked towards Peterson, getting a surreptitious 'wind up' gesture before turning back to the jury.

"I suggest that Agent Romanov's skill set was not that of an investigator, but instead that of a warrior, a killer, truly Agent Romanov's nickname as the Black Widow seems not only appropriate but well deserved" I tensed, looking for some way to intervene but not having one yet as Ling kept on.

"What we have here is an agent who at best was barely functional as an investigator but upon whose evidence the prosecution case partly rests. They developed a narrative that relied on poor investigative work, innuendo and half-truths, unfortunately that narrative is false, as we have just demonstrated, based on the work of this violent and dangerous person who was not deemed fit to investigate crimes either here or in Iraq, instead they benched her to keep her out of trouble" Ling waved her hand towards Ana. "Her employers did not trust her and neither should you"

"Your Honour" It was Andrea, standing she continued. "I find this character assassination of a decorated veteran and respected Bureau agent to be both uncalled for and unwarranted" Craven glanced at Ling.

"Counselor, your response?" Ling smiled.

"I have done nothing but recount the facts, I'm sorry those facts don't paint your witness in a particularly good light, but that is not my fault" Andrea shook her head.

"You've presented a one-sided, distorted recounting of events in an attempt to smear a witness, all to support your so-called narrative"

"Facts are facts Miss Hobbs, you may not like them but there they are"

"Be seated Counselor, objection overruled" Andrea sat down, her eyes narrowed, who she was angrier at, Ling or Craven I couldn't be sure; speaking of which Craven looked to Ling and spoke up.

"Your witness Counselor" Ling frowned then turned to Craven, all smiles.

"I don't think we need to keep Agent Romanov any longer Judge, I doubt she has anything constructive to add to this trial" Before Craven could respond Ana spoke up.

"You left a few salient 'facts' out of your description Ms Ling" Ana leaned forward, her voice clipped and biting. "My job in Iraq was as an investigator then criminal prosecutor for one of the largest criminal cases in recent Army history, the Abu Ghraib trials. I did that job to the best of my ability and saw it through to its successful conclusion. The Army obviously didn't share your opinion of me as they promoted me to Major before I retired" Ana sat back as Craven banged his gavel, Ana speaking up to be heard over the noise.

"The Bureau didn't share your concerns either as they happily accepted my application and both the Seattle PD and the LAPD have praised my work" Craven stared down at her and spoke.

"You are in danger of being found in contempt Agent Romanov" Ana shot him a dangerously contemptuous glance then looked to Ling, her voice biting cold.

"Sorry if that doesn't fit your narrative" With that she looked to back Craven "I'm done here"

"You are dismissed" Ana kept her face impassive as she stood and left but I hid a worried frown as I looked to Liv, seeing the concern there too, Ana may have got a parting shot in but the damage had been done.


	4. Chapter 4

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 04** **– Tearing Open Old Wounds**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

I watched as Andrea made her way back to our table, she'd just finishing walking Jane through her evidence on the conspiracy; she'd done well in helping tighten up the case in the jury's mind but now Jane was at the mercy of Peterson and his crew. Looking over to where Jane was sitting I could see she was carefully wary as she waited, obviously remembering the shabby handling Ana had received at their hands and expecting the same treatment.

This time it wasn't Ling, Cox instead doing the cross and as expected it didn't take long for his questioning to go off-topic, like Ling had with Ana, it was obvious Cox was trying to call into question her competence to be a detective. I'd tried to object but been told to sit down by Craven as Cox had smirked and, obviously feeling emboldened, started hammering away at Jane, attempting to run down her record and denigrate her achievements both here and back in Boston in the jury's eyes.

"…in fact your most notable achievement seems to have been a singular capability to be kidnapped or captured by serial killers" I exchanged a ' _what the hell_ ' look with Andrea as he rolled on with his smears. "Charles Hoyt captured you and would have killed you if your senior, male, partner had not rescued you" I glanced at Andrea who was already getting to her feet.

"Objection your honour, the Defence seems unable to stick to matters pertaining to this trial, instead delving back into events years past on the far side of the country that have no bearing or relevance whatsoever on this case" Craven shook his head.

"Defence will have their chance to demonstrate relevance" He looked to Cox. "I trust you can demonstrate relevance Counsellor?" Cox nodded confidently.

"We will Your Honour" Craven nodded once.

"Then proceed" Andrea slowly sat back down, like me waiting on the next objectionable statement.

"You were then captured once more by Charles Hoyt and were lucky to survive, doing so only at the cost of shooting Hoyt and killing another man" He turned to the Jury. "Rather a lot in common with the ill-starred Agent Romanov it seems, you both have a habit of leaving a string of dead bodies behind" Andrea didn't wait, standing and speaking up.

"Objection Your Honour, I am once again moved to ask what exactly does this have to do with the numerous capital charges the accused face?" Craven looked from us to Cox.

"Well Defence?" Cox rolled out the same line Ling had used against Ana.

"You Honour, we seek to prove that Detective Rizzoli is not a competent investigator, calling into question the witnesses' testimony" Craven nodded once and looked to us.

"Prosecution?" Andrea gestured with one hand as she spoke.

Your Honour, it would seem that the Defence is incapable of defending the suspects against the charges they face; particularly given they were recorded negotiating a price with a Mexican drug cartel to have this witness and other members of the investigating team killed…"

Objection!" It was Peterson. "Prosecution is attempting to taint the perceptions of the jury with irrelevancies as part of their diatribe" Craven looked at Peterson and nodded.

"Noted" He looked back to us and spoke. "Prosecution, get to your point" Andrea was unfazed; we would continue to take every opportunity to remind the jury of the facts, that one in particular.

"Yes Your Honour" She looked to the jury then back at Craven. "As I was saying, it has become more and more apparent that the Defence appears to believe the only way they can win in this case is by dredging expeditions into the past, some going back more than a decade ago, attempting to discredit the witnesses in a futile attempt to escape their client's culpability" She shook her head. "They seem to have forgotten we are trying their clients on capital charges, not conducting career performance appraisals on the witnesses, something their respective law enforcement agencies have repeatedly carried out in the interim"

Craven sat there for a few seconds as I saw Jane looking our way, probably hoping we could shut down this line of questioning, unfortunately Craven dashed those hopes.

"I feel that the Defence is justified in exploring the competence of this witness and should be allowed to proceed" Craven looked back to Cox. "Proceed" I exchanged an unhappy glance with Andrea as we sat, seeing Jane's face held rigidly composed as Cox dove back in.

"Then you were captured by another of Charles Hoyt's apprentices, taken prisoner along with another person, you once again escaped by pure luck, not skill, and in doing so, another person wound up dead" Jane raised an eyebrow then spoke.

"A big assertion there counsel, given you weren't there" Cox rounded on her.

"You question the facts as I have stated them Detective Rizzoli?" She nodded.

"I do, and so does the Boston Police Department. If you'd properly read the official investigation reports instead of relying on the newspapers you'd know that" Cox smiled thinly as he directed his next words to the jury.

"Official reports, interesting you should say that detective, remember that comment ladies and gentlemen" I frowned at that ominous statement as Cox rounded on Jane again. "Then Charles Hoyt once again attacked you, and you killed him, dead at your hands, along with another man" He theatrically shook his head. "Quite the body count you have there Detective Rizzoli" Jane shook her head, keeping her voice calm.

"We were attacked by a serial killer Mister Cox, I was forced to defend my colleague and myself, during which I was left with no option but to use lethal force" Cox regarded her with scepticism as he spoke, the same evident in his voice.

"Let us be accurate here Detective, you say you used lethal force, but you didn't shoot him did you, instead you shoved a knife into his chest" He looked over at Jane. "Did it feel good to kill him Detective, to end up with even more blood on your hands, literally in this case?"

"Objection!"

"Objection!" Craven looked to us where we'd both shot to our feet and spoke.

"Yes?" I handled the initial response.

"The person in question, Charles Hoyt, a serial killer with a long string of deaths behind him, had escaped restraint within the prison hospital in which he was confined, after being arrested by Detective Rizzoli I might add, and attacked Detective Rizzoli's colleague Doctor Isles, while Detective Rizzoli was fighting with Hoyt's accomplice" I shrugged theatrically. "Detective Rizzoli acted as necessary, utilising appropriate force, given she was not carrying her sidearm as per regulations within the prison, to defend her colleague and herself while under attack" Andrea jumped in after me.

"I will also point out that the actions of Detective Rizzoli were separately investigated by both the Boston Police Department and the Massachusetts Department of Corrections, in each case Detective Rizzoli was found to have acted appropriately under the circumstances"

 **Boston Division 1 Homicide**

Barry Frost looked up from his computer where he was following the trial to look over Korsak's way, seeing the Sergeant's dark frown as he stared at his screen, Frost had got it set up for him so he could watch the trial as well, ear buds in and a worried expression on his face, one Frost knew he had as well. The defence was taking Jane back to some pretty bad parts of her life, ones that Jane still carried the scars from, both physical and mental. He shook his head as he sent a worried mental message to Jane, thousands of miles away.

' _Stay strong Jane, you've got this, just stay strong_ '.

 **In Court**

"Objection sustained, Defence, another line of questioning" Cox nodded as we sat back and he tried again.

"You were kidnapped once more, this time apparently by a…" He paused, pretending to double check what he was reading though I was sure it was all an act. He looked up and raised his eyebrows in overacted disbelief. "Apparently you were kidnapped by a baker?" He shook his head before looking down at his tablet again.

"You were kidnapped by a baker Detective Rizzoli, Boston does seem to have more than their fair share of prospective kidnappers doesn't it, and all apparently desperate to kidnap you?" He looked up, faux shock on his face. "What a surprise, though perhaps it shouldn't be, it does seem to be a singular talent you possess" I could tell it was a good thing Jane didn't have her pistol on her, lest Cox be dead where he stood. Instead she shook her head and answered.

"That person was seriously deranged; fortunately thanks to good police work he was arrested, tried and is serving time for his crimes"

"And you didn't kill anyone, that's an unexpected twist" I was on my feet without realising it.

"Objection Your Honour" I turned to Cox. "Counsel is being insulting while attempting to insinuate activities undertaken by the witness that are not supported by the evidence" Craven looked to Cox.

"Defence?" Cox shrugged then smiled, the smooth bastard.

"Your Honour, there is no insinuation, we are simply stating the number of times the witness's ineptitude led to actions which saw her either kidnapped or ended with her killing suspects rather than having them face trial" Craven nodded and looked to us.

"Be seated Counsellors" I exchanged a look with Andrea as I sat; she was as pissed as I was. Cox smiled and pushed on.

"Thank you Your Honour. To recap then Detective Rizzoli, you were repeatedly kidnapped by criminals in Boston, then there was your incident where you were captured by a killer inside Boston Police headquarters" Cox smiled broadly. "How exactly one gets captured inside a police station I'm not sure but it is Detective Rizzoli we're talking about here, so anything's possible I suppose" I was about to object when I was beaten to it.

"I wasn't captured" Jane's voice was way lower and more growly than normal; she was stamping down hard on her anger. "I traded myself for the life of a hostage" Cox turned to her.

"Ah, so you willingly allowed yourself to be taken hostage, how novel" For a split-second the look on Jane's face was livid before she stamped down on it once more, returning her face to a rigid mask.

"To save the life of another officer who was at risk of bleeding to death" I suddenly remembered that it had been her wounded brother Frankie who had been bleeding to death, no wonder Jane was boiling, I found myself admiring her almost iron self-control as Cox smiled and continued on.

"So you allowed yourself to be taken hostage, that didn't work out so well for you did it Detective?" He looked to Jane but she was silent. "I asked you a question Detective…" he prodded, drawing a reluctant response from Jane.

"The injured officer was saved and the suspect died of a gunshot wound before he could kill anyone else" Jane ground out, obviously not happy where this had gone.

"A gunshot wound you inflicted as I recall, is that correct Detective?" Jane was rigid as she replied.

"Yes"

"My, another dead body left in your wake Detective, you and Agent Romanov both seem to be exceptionally good at that, if nothing else" He shrugged. "Perhaps that explains your…closeness" He smirked at the jury. "Birds of a feather and all that, I suppose" That did it for Andrea.

"Objection Your Honour" Craven looked our way.

"Yes?" She waved towards where Cox was standing as she spoke.

"Would it trouble the Defence to actually focus their questions to this case, rather than wandering hither and yon" Andrea shook her head. "I have yet to see any efforts by the Defence to actually 'defend' their clients" She put it in quotes. "It's as if they have nothing else but smear and innuendo in their arsenal" Craven looked to Cox.

"Your response Counsellor?" Cox shrugged.

"Your Honour, the case against my clients is little more that hot air and wishful thinking; the investigating officers are obviously either blood-thirsty or incompetent, or both…"

"Objection!" I stood and leaned forward, one hand on the table in front of me. "The defence is once again smearing the witnesses without evidence" I shook my head. "What does he mean blood-thirsty?" Cox looked at me and shrugged.

"Both Agent Romanov and Detective Rizzoli here have left a trail of dead behind them, by their own admission I might add, and having proven Agent Romanov's incompetence we are in the process of identifying this witnesses' incompetence to investigate anything, let alone a major case such as the one they have brought against my clients"

"Your Honour, the Defence's grandstanding aside, we are here to assess the evidence against their clients, something they seem unable or more likely, unwilling to undertake" I looked over to Cox and shook my head as I continued. "Is it too much to ask for the Defence to actually focus on the evidence?" Andrea wasn't going to let them go either.

"Of course, if they are on a fee per day remuneration arrangement, that would explain much, dragging this out with irrelevancies to pad their bank accounts" Craven wasn't going to wear that, unfortunately.

"Prosecution will be seated and allow the Defence to continue their cross examination of this witness" I exchanged a glance with Andrea as we sat, even as Cox smiled.

"Thank you Your Honour" He turned to Jane. "Detective Rizzoli, is it not true that your personal fitness reports and assessments during your last year or so at Boston Police Department showed a marked decline?" He smiled. "I believe that your superior had recorded his grave doubts about your fitness to hold the position you did" Jane frowned.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Cox retrieved his tablet and flicked across pages till he found what he was after.

"Official reports Detective Rizzoli, you place great store on them apparently, based on your previous comments" He glanced up at the jury. "I am reading from Detective Rizzoli's most recent fitness report and performance appraisal in Boston, before she left that city and came to Los Angeles" He glanced up at Jane. "Looking for a fresh start in a new city were you detective Rizzoli, a place where you could hide from your reputation and all those serial killers and their kidnappings of you?" Jane shook her head slowly, obviously stamping down on her fury.

"No" Cox turned to the jury and smiled as he read from his tablet.

"Detective Rizzoli's previously adequate performance has deteriorated during the reporting period, to the point that she has been reprimanded and required counselling for her anger issues" He looked up at Jane and raised an eyebrow. "Anger issues, what a surprise" He looked down again and continued. "This officers working relationship with her fellow officers have deteriorated during the period and is a concern going forward. Despite counselling sessions, her attitude has not improved" He put the tablet down and looked to Jane. "Pretty damning stuff" Jane sat there, her mouth open in shock. Finally she managed to pull herself together and speak.

"Who wrote that?" Cox smiled.

"Your direct superior, a Lieutenant Cavanagh, the head of Boston's Homicide squad" He shrugged. "When I contacted him directly he had additional comments to make, including that he was considering sending you back to the Vice detail as you were unsuitable for Homicide work, and that your relationship with a number of your fellow homicide detectives had basically broken down, rendering you unable to work with other officers"

 **Los Angeles Medical Examiner's Office**

Maura's jaw tightened as she stared at the television. Cavanagh had let his animosity towards Jane get out of hand. Right then and there Maura decided there would be a reckoning with Cavanagh, one that was both long overdue and well-deserved.

That was a matter for later; right now she was concerned for Jane, watching as she saw her lover struggling to deal with the Defence's accusations and Cavanagh's betrayal, her heart going out to her.

"Oh Jane…"

 **Boston Division 1 Homicide**

Riley Cooper and Barry Frost exchanged a shocked glance across their desks as they listened and watched the trial, both turning their attention to the office where Cavanagh was sitting back, watching his television with a satisfied smile on his face, then turned back to each other, sick horror on their faces.

The thought that Cavanagh would throw a fellow cop under the bus, potentially helping get six murderers get off, prospective cop-killers at that, because he didn't like the cop in question, filled Riley with sick loathing. What little respect she had for the man vanished right there, dead and buried.

She looked across at Frost, seeing the fury in his eyes reflecting hers; they exchanged a quick conversation of head shakes and grimaces before turning back to the trial, but both knew they'd need to talk about what had happened, soon.

 **In Court**

"So you were on the verge of being shipped to vice where you could do less damage" Cox threw his arms wide, all fake innocence. "Was that why you fled to Los Angeles detective, to escape your well-deserved demotion?" Jane shook her head, her voice under rigid control.

"I left because my partner was offered a secondment, I was lucky enough to gain a secondment to the LAPD for the same period" Cox nodded agreeably.

"And lucky you were, given your poor fitness reports; it looks like Boston's gain was our loss" Jane spoke, her voice flat with anger held under brutally tight rein.

"The officer you quoted hates gays, when he realised I was gay he decided to punish me" Jane nodded towards the Defence desk and the tablet laying there. "That's why the adverse report" Cox's retort was all condescending scepticism

"Come, come detective, we are supposed to accept your assertion that you were a victim over the Boston Police Department's own human resources files?"

"That officer's opinion wasn't shared by his superior, or the Boston Police Department, they'd invited me to sit the promotion boards for Sergeant's rank" Jane smiled at Cox. "They obviously didn't put too much credence into that report"

"But you weren't promoted to Sergeant were you?" Cox turned to the Jury. "That waited until this witness joined the LAPD and was promoted by her friend Deputy Chief Johnson, looking after another member of her lesbian clique"

"Objection Your Honour" Andrea wearily pushed to her feet. "Neither Deputy Chief Johnson nor Commander Raydor has any say in the promotions of officers under their command. That is solely at the discretion of the independent promotions board, it was they who assessed then Detective Rizzoli as suitable for promotion to Sergeant" I stood as well.

"I will also add that at the same time the witness was deservedly promoted to Sergeant, several of her colleagues in Major Crimes were also promoted, to Sergeant and Lieutenant" Andrea grabbed that and ran with it, nodding as she did.

"Each of those officers, male officers I might add, received their promotions and were transferred to their new, more senior roles within another division" I sat down as she continued. "Hardly something you would expect if Defence counsel's assertions bore any resemblance to the truth, which they do not" Craven considered that for a moment then nodded and looked to Cox.

"Objection sustained, Defence, try something else" Cox nodded, I mean what else could he do, and set off again.

"You were the youngest person ever promoted to detective in Boston's Homicide division weren't you Detective Rizzoli?" Jane confined herself to single word answers.

"Yes"

"And the first woman as well I understand?" Once again Jane kept it terse..

"Yes" Cox glanced at the jury and shook his head.

"How very progressive of them, young, inexperienced and the first woman in a dangerous profession" Jane held herself very still, I could see she was pissed, something anyone with eyes could see just as well as I, as she answered his question.

"I was promoted on the basis of my fitness reports and performance, following a competitive examination, along with all other candidates for promotion to detective" Cox made a dismissive gesture and changed tack.

"Tell me Detective Rizzoli, how many fatal shootings have you been involved in?" Jane blinked at the sudden change of subject, her face closed off as she regarded Cox, obviously seeing him trying to tar her with the same one that she had used on Ana. Cox was about to prod her again when she replied, her voice tightly held.

"Throughout my career I have had a number of instances where I have had to defend myself, my partners or members of the public. Some of those have resulted in the suspect's death" She looked to the jury and continued. "I'm a homicide detective, that means we are trying to arrest individuals who have already taken a life, many of them aren't concerned about taking more"

"I asked you how many deaths Detective Rizzoli?" Jane looked at him then back to the jury.

"One here in Los Angeles, when we were ambushed on the streets by the Barrio Bangers as part of this case" She shook her head. "Back in Boston…" Seeing her pause I stepped in.

"Your Honour, I ask what exactly does the witnesses past, including incidents which were the subject of investigation by the Boston Police Department's own Force Investigation equivalent, have to do with the suspect's testimony on a case here in Los Angeles" I turned to look at Cox and shook my head at him pityingly. "Unless he is suggesting some kind of conspiracy by the Boston Police Department to have Detective Rizzoli here in Los Angeles to defend herself and her colleagues from an attack his clients arranged"

"Objection, Prosecution is attempting to negatively influence the jury's perception of my clients" I turned my head to regard him, trying hard to not sneer at him though some of my hostility probably filtered into my voice as I spoke.

"And what exactly do you call your behaviour here, smearing witnesses on the basis of misrepresenting actions taken years ago and on the far side of the country or the world? I looked to Craven. "Your Honour, we were not there, at these supposedly 'questionable' incidents…" I put it in finger quotes. "…however they were investigated by the relevant authorities, the witness's actions reviewed and they were cleared of any wrong doing" I waved towards Cox and the Defence tables. "That however is not good enough for the Defence, instead in an attempt to desperately shift attention from their clients, they insinuate, they smear and they undermine the outstanding careers of often-decorated law-enforcement personnel" I shook my head. "I find their tactics questionable, after all the witnesses have not carried out murders at the behest of a Mexican drug cartel, unlike their clients"

"Objection!" It was Ling and Peterson, both objecting to what I was saying as Peterson continued. "Once again the prosecution is attempting to taint the jury's perceptions" I shrugged nonchalantly as I replied.

"It's not my clients on trial for multiple counts of murder and attempted murder, including several attempts on the life of this witness" I smiled politely as I remembered something Andrea had said earlier and ran with it. "I was under the impression we were here to ascertain the guilt or otherwise of the defendants, not conduct performance evaluations of witnesses for actions taken years ago and far away from Los Angeles and this case" I glanced around the room, taking in both the jury and the camera's. "It's as if the Defence realise they have nothing else to defend their clients with" Craven interrupted, his voice testy.

"Get to the point counsellor" At his rebuke I nodded and pushed on.

"Yes Your Honour. We are here to ascertain the defendant's guilt, so far there has been no attempt to challenge the evidence provided, just ongoing efforts to smear the witnesses about their past history, nothing about their investigation of this case" I shook my head sadly, all theatrics. "I for one would like to actually debate the evidence in this case, not decade-old fitness reports, if that isn't too much trouble for the Defence" Craven unfortunately wasn't much help.

"Sit down counsellor" I did so as he looked to Cox. "Proceed with your cross counsellor"

"So your key characteristic as a detective in Boston seems to be an uncanny ability to let yourself be kidnapped by criminals Detective Rizzoli, serial killers in particular" He glanced to the jury. "An interesting technique to catch criminals, wait for Detective Rizzoli to be captured by one who she ends up killing" He smiled. "Let us all hope her technique does not continue out here, eh?"

"Objection Your Honour" It was Andrea, wearily rising to her feet. "The Defence seems to be trying to pad out their so-called cross-examination with complete irrelevancies, would it be too much to ask them to actually try and defend their clients against the evidence, rather than attempting to smear the investigating officers?" Craven nodded once and looked to Cox.

"Counsellor, get to your point" Cox nodded agreeably and turned back to Jane as Andrea resumed her seat.

"So, having ended up facing adverse fitness reports in Boston, you fled Boston for Los Angeles, a chance for a new start Detective, far from your previous failures" Jane shook her head, her voice under firm control.

"As I stated, my partner was offered a secondment to the LAPD as their Medical Examiner, I accompanied them and took up a role with the LAPD's Major Crimes division" Cox raised an eyebrow.

"That would be your lesbian lover Doctor Maura Isles?" I was on my feet immediately.

"Your Honour, what does the sexuality of Detective Rizzoli and her partner have to do with their fitness to give evidence here today?" Craven looked to me.

"The Defence will have their chance to demonstrate relevance" He shook his head. "Sit down Counsellor" I sat down, appalled, as Cox pressed on.

"So you and your lover Maura Isles relocated here, where you fell in with the ill-starred Agent Romanov and her lesbian lover, the flamboyantly gay Natalie Dearing…" Andrea wasn't going to let that past, standing and interjecting.

"Pardon me, flamboyantly gay? What the hell does that mean?" Craven frowned but Cox smiled.

"Natalie Dearing is by far the most in-your-face member of Chief Johnson's gay clique; she openly, almost aggressively, flaunts her sexuality in the face of the LAPDs heterosexual members…" Andrea wasn't going to wear that.

"How the… how do you interpret her doing her job as flaunting her sexuality?" Cox shrugged.

"Dearing regularly appears at crime scenes accompanied by her lover, the incompetent Bureau agent Romanov…" I stood and pushed into the debate.

"How do you declare Agent Romanov incompetent? That would strike me as a decision for the Senior Officer in Charge of the Los Angeles Bureau office, Director Martinez, given your complete lack of expertise in that area" Cox was unperturbed.

"Oh I have no doubt that her boss would deliver a glowing reference, if only to hide the fact that he continued to employ a substandard agent such as Romanov in a role she was clearly inadequate to perform" Craven intervened before I could lose it.

"Sit down counsellor and let the Defence finish answering your initial question" I frowned and sat down, leaving Andrea to take on Cox and Craven both.

"Thank you Your Honour…" Cox said. "…as I was saying, not only does the LAPD's media woman, Dearing, turn up at crime scenes accompanied by her lesbian lover, she has been featured in media articles highlighting her sexuality" Craven frowned and looked to Andrea.

"Is this true?" Andrea looked to Craven and nodded.

"Miss Dearing was one of four LAPD personnel, two women and two men, who were featured in an article in 'One Magazine' about gay members of the force" She shrugged. "Given the target demographic of the publication, Miss Dearing offered herself as a subject rather than ask another member of the force to do so" Andrea smiled politely. "As Your Honour is no doubt aware, not every gay person is happy publically acknowledging they are gay, given the actions of some reactionary elements in society who are hostile to gays. Miss Dearing offered to be so profiled in place of other members of the LAPD who were not as comfortable with being publically outed" She took a breath before continuing.

"As for Agent Romanov accompanying Miss Dearing to crime scenes, normally the only times she does so is when requested to by the officer on the scene, or in the case of late night call-outs, to ensure the safety of Miss Dearing" Andrea looked to Craven. "A prudent precaution as you would agree Judge, given some of the areas that Miss Dearing is called upon to attend crime scenes" Craven frowned, obviously not happy being put on the spot in front of the jury, the audience and the cameras, not that I had the slightest sympathy for the bigoted old fool. Finally he nodded to Cox.

"Get to your point Counsellor" Cox nodded.

"You arrived in Los Angeles and fell in with a clique of lesbians, did you not Detective?" Jane gave him a quizzical look then answered easily.

"I'd call it making friends in a new job and new city, but you can call it what you want" Cox nodded,

"I'd call it a gay clique forming, one that wasted no time in drawing in both Johnson and Raydor into your net" Jane frowned.

"They were friends long before we arrived here and if you think proximity to gay people turns you gay…" Jane slowly shook her head as she spoke, pityingly. "I'm sorry, but that's not how it works" Cox was dismissive.

"So you say, but the fact is that not long after you and your lesbian clique walked into their lives they too had entered a lesbian relationship"" Jane tipped her head to regard him before she spoke.

"If you think me or anyone else is strong enough to push two women as strong-willed as Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor into anything, let alone a relationship, you're…" Jane smiled maliciously. "…stark raving hazelnuts" Cox frowned for a moment then rallied.

"And yet they entered into the same lesbian lifestyle you embrace" Jane sat back and looked at him before replying.

"That was their choice; they were my friends before they became involved together. They'd still be my friends if they had chosen to enter relationships with men, as both the Chief and Commander had previously done, both had been previously married after all"

"But they became lesbians" Cox said, drawing a headshake from Jane as she explained.

"No, they decided to look for happiness with each other, something I can't fault them for" Jane shrugged. "You seem to have this weird idea that exposure to lesbians turns other women gay" She shook her head. "That'd be like me saying that if you worked with a couple of gay lawyers in your office, you'd soon be out trolling gay bars looking for a lover" She smiled. "Is that really likely to happen, honestly Counsellor?" Ignoring the barb Cox changed subjects, though I noticed two members of the jury smiling at the question and another nodding.

"But you soon formed a lesbian coven within the LAPD, you and Isles, Romanov and Dearing, Johnson and Raydor, you were joined by another of Johnson's detectives, Detective Mendoza and her partner, then wasted no time in arranging to have your friend Olivia Benson and her partner transferred from New York" I frowned darkly, seeing Andrea doing the same as we waited to see where the hell he was going with this. "…that is five gay couples in the two teams, obviously way outside the norms of society, as any fair-minded person would agree"

"Maybe to you Mister Cox, but I think you're not looking at the bigger picture here" Jane looked over to the Jury. "Major Crimes, the team I'm part of, has a total of eight people in it, of which four are gay women. That may seem high, but if you compare it to the vice squad for example, I don't believe they have any gay women out of their team of sixteen people"

"It suggests that you are bringing your 'exceptionally close friends'…" he finger quoted it. "…all together in one place" Jane shrugged.

"If that was the case then wouldn't you think that the same would hold true of Commander Raydor's Robbery Homicide team?" She smiled. "To the best of my knowledge the only gay female in that team is the Commander herself, the other seven members of her team are not" Cox shrugged.

"Not yet anyway" Jane smiled slyly as she replied.

"I wish I had your ability to see the future with so much certainty Mister Cox, it'd make winning lotteries so much easier" Cox didn't miss a beat.

"No such clarity is required, it's obvious to anyone why looks into your coven's activities that you are trying to bring all of your gay friends into one place, displacing normal heterosexual male detectives" Jane shrugged.

"The 'normal heterosexual male detectives'…" She emphasised his words mockingly. "…in Major Crimes might disagree with you there Mister Cox, after all they work with us, the senior people, both Lieutenants, seem more than happy leading a team of made up of straight and gay members, while our other male team members have never expressed any issues working with us either" She shrugged. "They're all going to be on the stand, giving evidence against your murderous clients, why don't you ask them"

"Oh I will, you can be sure of that detective" He shook his head. "I doubt they appreciate their team mates being shoved aside to make way for poorly qualified lesbians" I was on my feet at once.

"Objection Your Honour" Craven looked my way.

"Yes Counsellor?" I pointed towards Cox as I replied.

"The Defence presumes to pass judgement on the performance and record of the detectives who make up the Major Crimes team, despite his complete lack of credentials to do so" I looked to Craven. "If they persist in pursuing this line of questioning, irrelevant as it is, then the People will be forced to call as witnesses Los Angeles Bureau Chief Director Martinez, LAPD Chief Pope and LAPD head of Human Resources Candace Morrell to testify as to the witnesses qualifications and performance" I tipped my head to regard him.

"I for one would rather we didn't have to waste the time of both the court and these busy people to counter the Defence's spurious fishing expeditions, all made necessary by their attempts to smear and undermine the witnesses' testimony as they desperately try to justify fleecing their unfortunate clients of every cent they have" Craven shook his head.

"Careful Counsellor…" He looked to Cox. "Do you actually have a point Counsellor?"

"Yes Your Honour, we seek to prove that these witnesses are unfit for the positions they hold and that they were not motivated by professionalism but by their desire to promote other members of their lesbian cabal into positions of authority they were unfit to hold"

I shook my head and looked to Craven.

"Your Honour, it seems that the Defence, aware that they are unable to argue the merits of the evidence being presented, has decided that their only course is to attack the character and credibility of the witnesses" I smiled, all for the jury and cameras. "I would suggest that it reflects far more negatively on their own character and credibility, or the lack thereof, than that of the witnesses"

"Excuse me?" It was Cox. I turned to him and shrugged.

"If Counsel has developed a hearing problem I am more than happy to repeat what I just said for their benefit" Cox turned to Craven and pled his case.

"Objection Your Honour, the Prosecution is being deliberately insulting" I shrugged before Craven could say anything.

"As opposed to you I suppose, that description seems to fit your behaviour more than mine" There was a loud rap from the bench as Craven intervened.

"Counsellors will resume their seats" I did so, seeing Cox do the same. "I insist on decorum in my court do you hear me, I will not tolerate personal abuse from anyone, is that understood?" I glanced at Andrea and we both nodded before I replied.

"Yes Your Honour" He glanced at the clock.

"Given tempers seem to be running somewhat hot and given we are close to the lunch adjournment, I am calling the adjournment early. We will reconvene in 72 minutes from now" He tapped the gavel and the court officer called on us to stand as Craven left.

Once he was gone I immediately walked over to where Jane was getting out of the witness stand.

"Jane, I need the name of your boss in Boston, not the one who threw you under the bus, someone you can trust"

"That'd be Captain Marquette…" She spelled it out. "He's the boss of Homicide, he's always been straight with me" She looked at me. "Why?" I looked up from where I was typing his name into my phone and starting a Google search for a contact and smiled.

"I have an idea"

 **Boston Division 1 Homicide**

The phone ringing dragged Captain Harry Marquette away from the paperwork he was working on late into the afternoon.

"Homicide, Marquette" The voice on the phone was female, a well-educated one he deduced given her diction.

"Good afternoon Captain Marquette, my name is Alex Cabot and I am a Prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office" He sat back… _Los Angeles?_

"How can I help you Miss Cabot?"

"I am prosecuting a number of corrupt police on charges of acting as assassins for a Mexican drug cartel, you may have seen it on the news" Unconsciously he shook his head.

"I haven't, but I've heard about it"

"One of your former Detectives, Jane Rizzoli has been giving evidence this morning" Marquette smiled, that was Rizzoli, she'd never been able to keep her nose out of a big case. The woman's next words wiped the smile away. "The Defence have been attempting to smear her testimony and claiming she is an incompetent detective" He reared back.

"They what?" He shook his head. "That's bull shit; pardon my language, Rizzoli's a great detective, a great homicide detective, one of the best I've worked with"

"I'm afraid so. It's not been helped by statements from Jane's former boss Lieutenant Cavanagh that he was considering kicking her out of Homicide and sending her back to Vice because she was incompetent" Marquette's frown was dark, as was his voice.

"You have got to be shitting me?"

"Regrettably no, the Defence tendered a copy of her final performance appraisal from your Lieutenant Cavanagh, as well as additional supporting statements from him to that effect only a short while ago" Marquette scowled, Cavanagh and he were due for a chat, soon.

"I didn't know about that and I sure as hell wouldn't have agreed with either his actions or his conclusions" He paused then continued on. "I know Cavanagh and Rizzoli had issues since she came out as gay, but to throw her under the bus like that…"

"It's somewhat worse than that, the corrupt cops she helped bring to trial, they tried to kill Detective Rizzoli, Doctor Isles and a number of other investigating officers, several times in fact"

"What the…?" He shook his head, not sure of what he'd heard. "Cavanagh's helping cop-killers get off"

"Attempted cop-killers Captain, but yes, I'm afraid he is"

"Thanks for bringing me up to speed, you can be sure I'll be talking to Cavanagh, but I assume there's something you want from me Miss Cabot?" The lawyer explained her request as he nodded.

"Give me your email address and you'll have it as soon as humanly possible" He paused then continued. "Tell Jane I'm sorry about this and she has my word that I didn't know anything about it" The woman's voice on the other end of the line was soothing.

"I'm certain she knows that Captain, Jane has previously spoken of you and I know she respects you" 30 seconds later the call ended and Marquette stood, walking out to his secretary.

"Marcy please put a call through to Tod Hardy in HR, urgently please, if he doesn't answer, track him down to wherever he is and pull him out, I need to speak with him very urgently, then call Cavanagh and tell him to be in my office exactly ten minutes from now" His secretary looked up, eyes wide at the cold anger in her usually easy-going bosses' voice.

"Are you okay?" Marquette shook his head.

"Not now, not yet, but I will be" He looked down at her and forced a smile. "I need that call to Tod Hardy urgently please Marcy" With that he turned and walked back inside his office leaving Marcy wondering what the hell had just happened as she picked up her phone to call HR.

 **In Court**

We were back after lunch and Cox was at it again, attacking Jane's credibility when I stood up and rather ostentatiously looked around, searching for something, causing Craven to speak up.

"What exactly is the Prosecution looking for?" I looked up at him as I replied.

"Looking for a smoking gun Your Honour, there's sure to be one somewhere given the character assassination we're witnessing here today" There was a small wave of sniggers and one or two chuckles from the gallery as Craven frowned.

"This court is no place for flippancy Counsellor" I nodded soberly.

"Of course Your Honour, I apologise" I picked up the sheet of paper I'd printed out during the lunch break. "The Defence seeks to call into question the testimony of witnesses, apparently they have nothing else to use in their defence. Detective Rizzoli for example is a much decorated officer, both in Boston and since her transfer to Los Angeles" I glanced down then back up and addressed the jury. "The Boston Police department has awarded Detective Sergeant Rizzoli 16 separate commendations and medals, for bravery, coolness under fire and for solving some of the city's most difficult cases"

"Objection Your Honour" It was Cox. "Prosecution's time to enter evidence has passed" I jumped in before Craven could speak.

"You have made a number of assertions regarding the witnesses competence, rather than letting those assertions stand unchallenged, I am making the court aware of the full…and complete record of the witnesses' history" Cox looked to Craven.

"Your Honour, I ask that you direct the Prosecution to allow me to continue cross examining this witness, uninterrupted" Craven looked to me then asked a question.

"What is that document Counsellor?" I smiled.

"I hold a transcript of Detective Sergeant Rizzoli's service record, provided directly from the Boston Police Department during the lunch break in response to my urgent request. Given the witnesses' credibility is under attack I thought it appropriate to make the court aware of the witnesses' record" Craven nodded.

"Approach the bench Counsellor" I did so and he held his hand out, wordlessly asking me to hand it over, which I did. He flipped through it, pausing once or twice, then handed it back.

"Under the circumstances, given the witnesses' credibility is in question, I will allow their service record to be entered into evidence" He looked to me. "You may briefly summarise the witnesses' record counsellor, briefly you hear me?" I nodded once as I took the papers.

"Thank you Your Honour" I turned to the jury. "In addition to the commendations earned which I have already mentioned, Detective Rizzoli has brought to an end the actions of five separate serial killers, including the aforementioned Charles Hoyt, aka the Surgeon. Her actions against organised crime in Boston saw her awarded a commendation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for her work in bringing the head of the Irish mob, one Paddy Doyle, to trial" I glanced at the list and turned back to the jury. "Detective Sergeant Rizzoli is, proportionally for her length of service, the most highly decorated officer in the Boston Police Department's history going back over the last half century" I saw Craven starting to frown so I wound things up. "I will finish with but one example of her numerous commendations, this one for closing a decades-old murder case" I looked down at the paper and read a passage I'd emphasised with a neon yellow highlighter.

"Detective Rizzoli's meritorious conduct, her valour and her determination to bring the suspect to long-delayed justice exemplifies the highest traditions of the Boston Police Department and will be an inspiration to generations of officers to come" I turned to the jury. "That, ladies and gentlemen, is the true character of the witness testifying here today" I looked to Craven.

"Thank you Your Honour" With that I walked over and handed the printout to one of the Court Officers. "The People present Detective Sergeant Rizzoli's service record for entry into evidence" With that I turned and walked back to my seat and sat down, looked expectantly towards the Prosecution and smiled politely. "Your witness Counsellor"

I took great pleasure in seeing Cox's jaw tense in angry frustration as I sat back, even as Andrea held her fist out to me, I smiled and we bumped fists even as Cox tried to get them back on track after the bomb I'd just metaphorically thrown in his lap, his efforts drawing a carefully-hidden grin as I mentally gave him a message.

' _Deal with that you miserable bastard_ '.


	5. Chapter 5

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 05** **–** **Smears**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

Brenda was on the stand, having spent much of yesterday walking us through her involvement in the case, going over the steps she'd taken to investigate the case with Sharon before wrapping up for the evening, we'd then reconvened this morning to walk her through the attacks on her and Sharon and the arrests of the suspects, followed by the investigations into their backgrounds and a discussion about her interrogations of the suspects. Finally, as we moved into the last hour of the afternoon session we'd wrapped up and Peterson had started in on his cross-examination.

He'd picked away for a while; nothing of any real consequence, until he'd turned the subject to who might have wanted her and Sharon Raydor dead. He'd started intimating that both of them were hated within the Department as Andrea and I watched, waiting for a chance to intervene.

"Isn't it likely Chief Johnson, that the attacks on you and Commander Raydor had nothing to do with my clients, after all both of you have attracted a level of animosity from not only police officers subject to Commander Raydor's investigations, but from the city's criminal elements who may have reason for attempting to get payback for your actions?" Brenda leaned forward, all calm and composed.

"While potentially possible it seems unlikely" Peterson continued prowling in a circuit between the jury and the witness stand, right past the cameras.

"Unlikely you say? Given your actions over the years you have been in charge of the Major Crimes unit you've made more than your fair share of enemies haven't you?" Brenda made a bobbing motion with her head as she answered.

"Criminal's generally don't like getting caught, let alone being sent to jail"

"But the attacks on you could have come from the Zeta's drug cartel, the Blood Catorcies street gang, the Yakuza or the Blood Brothers motorcycle gang, all of whom you have interacted with recently" Brenda shrugged.

"Unlikely, given that each of those organisations last interactions with the LAPD had cost them dearly"

"They hated you though didn't they Chief Johnson?" Brenda was unmoved.

"That is possible, unlikely but possible, but on the other hand deliberately provoking the attentions of the LAPD is not normally the actions I'd ascribe to criminal elements who wish to avoid jail"

"All of them?" In reply to his question Brenda kept it short.

"In my experience" Peterson made a noncommittal head gesture and continued.

"What about the Barrio Bangers gang, you'd previously arrested their leader and several members but they came after you, so clearly your beliefs are in error" Brenda frowned as she replied.

"As was later determined, the Barrio Bangers were being paid to undertake their attack on my colleagues and I" She looked to the jury and smiled politely. "By one of the defendants actually" Peterson kept his face impassive as he admonished her.

"Please confine yourself to answering the questions asked Chief Johnson" Brenda nodded once as she answered, she was a pro at this, not surprising given how many times she'd given evidence over the years.

"Of course" Peterson wandered across in front of the witness stand, heading towards the jury on this leg of his loop.

"It's obvious that you've made plenty of enemies during your time with the police here and in Atlanta and before that with the CIA" Brenda suddenly looked warily at Peterson as she replied.

"Possibly" Peterson smiled, all false cheer.

"Come now Chief Johnson, you received a medal from the CIA for your actions in Iraq, actions that helped the allied cause there and naturally make you a target" Brenda's face went rigid.

"I am not in a position to discuss any of that" Peterson nodded, all reasonable agreement, or so it seemed.

"I understand; national security and all that" He shrugged then pushed on. "After all your actions in Iraq must have been important to be so recognised, something that must have attracted the attention and the ire of America's enemies in that rather volatile region, people who'd like you dead for your work there" Brenda opened her mouth to say something then closed it abruptly, glancing towards Andrea and I in a silent plea for help. In response I stood and spoke up.

"Objection Your Honour, the Defence is delving into irrelevancies going back almost two decades, knowing that Chief Johnson is unable to respond" Craven looked to Brenda.

"Is this true?" he asked, Brenda turned to face him and nodded in reply before she explained.

"I worked for the CIA for a period of years in a variety of roles and operations, none of which I can reveal in this court" She pulled a face then continued. "That would require you to get approval from both the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and the members of the Congressional and Senate Joint Intelligence Oversight Committees before I could proceed"

Craven nodded slowly, he knew that anyone less than the Supreme Court trying to compel anything from the CIA was going nowhere, more than likely making him look irrelevant at best and at worst impotent. Turning his attention to Peterson he spoke.

"Defence, do you have any definitive evidence that the attacks on the witness were carried out as a consequence of their actions with the CIA many years ago?"

"It is possible Your Honour" Craven frowned then shook his head.

"Counselor, unless you can establish a direct causal relationship between events that occurred while the witness was with the CIA and the attacks on her here in LA, given the constraints on the witnesses' ability to speak about those matters in court, I'm inclined to disallow this line of questioning" He raised an eyebrow. "Can you prove that link Counselor?" Peterson shook his head.

"Not conclusively at this time" That was enough for Craven.

"The Jury will disregard that line of questioning, continue with something else Counselor"

"Yes Your Honour" I mean what else could he say? Instead Peterson turned back to Brenda and favoured her with a smile.

"Disregarding your actions prior to arriving in Los Angeles then, would you agree that you have attracted hostility and aggression from the city's criminal element?" Brenda nodded and leaned forward to speak into the microphone.

"Placing criminals behind bars does tend to do that" She shrugged. "It's an occupational hazard, every officer faces those risks and threats every day, from the officer citing a motorist for speeding to detectives arresting white collar criminals and murderers; threats are a part of the job"

"But you, as a high profile member of the LAPD would attract threats from powerful, dangerous criminals would you not?" Brenda looked at Peterson and spoke.

"Major Crimes, the team I lead, has had a significant success rate, the people arrested by Major Crimes are not happy to have been found out and arrested, then convicted, so the answer to your question is yes"

"So the attacks on you could have come from any number of criminals that you have crossed paths with" Brenda shrugged.

"Potentially" She looked across at the jury as she continued. "However given your clients were the ones paying the Sinaloa cartel to have us killed it seems unlikely" I Peterson kept his cool.

"Just answer the question Chief Johnson, your speculation has no place here" I was about to say something when Brenda spoke.

"I thought I was, I wasn't speculating, just stating facts" I smiled as she spoke, so polite and so good at hammering home the facts even as Peterson shook his head as he admonished her.

"Just answer the questions you are asked Chief Johnson, without embellishment" I glanced at Andrea, getting a tiny head shake, she was waiting to see where he was going before jumping in, making me nod slightly in reply.

"So Chief Johnson, you admit that you have attracted hostility and threats from various criminal factions for your actions, some of whom have attempted to undertake retribution against you" Brenda nodded but before she could speak Peterson continued. "People like Phillip Stroh, for example?" Brenda shook her head immediately.

"This was not his work" Peterson raised his eyebrows.

"Oh, how can you be so sure?"

"Because I wasn't burnt alive" Brenda stated drily, then smiled sardonically. "As a psychotic and murderous serial arsonist that is Phillip Stroh's preferred modus operandi" Peterson made a ' _whatever_ ' gesture with his hands and moved on for a moment then turned to face her.

"But you would agree that Phillip Stroh is one individual who would like to see you pay for your actions in thwarting his criminal schemes?" Brenda thought that one over then nodded agreeably.

"Yes" Peterson nodded and turned to face her.

"Then it's not so much a stretch to imagine other criminal groups wanting to do the same, is it?"

"As I agreed earlier it is possible, but not likely"

"Possible?" Peterson looked to the jury. "I would say it is more than likely. After all did you not get in the way of the criminal Marvin Evans, your actions saw him personally threaten you" Brenda frowned, both at the question and where it was leading and then answered.

"Yes, and he is now serving two consecutive life sentences for his crimes"

"But a man like that has connections, not least amongst the fellow gang members of the One-Ten Crips and the friends of Turrell Baylor, people accustomed to violence with a reason to hate you, seeing as your actions got him killed!" Brenda's eyes narrowed, Turrell Baylor was still a sore point with her.

"Mister Baylor's unfortunate death was investigated and I was cleared of responsibility"

"Cleared, perhaps, but you barely avoided a formal reprimand for your actions, actions which led to Mister Baylor's death" Brenda was working hard on keeping her cool.

"As I said, I was cleared" Peterson shook his head as he turned to the jury.

"Cleared, but found guilty of a code of conduct violation for your actions, is that not true?"

We were both on our feet in an instant, both saying the same thing.

"Objection Your Honour" Craven looked our way and tipped his head, Andrea gave me a slight nod and I sat back, leaving this to her.

"Your Honour, I will point out that not only has that case been settled in a court of law, but the person ultimately responsible for that crime, Marvin Evans, the leader of the One-Ten Crips, has been tried on both state and federal charges and found guilty: She rounded on Peterson and spoke. "What exactly are you suggesting Mister Peterson? That because one of the officers here was investigated on a conduct case, it obviates her testimony for every other case they may investigate?"

"It calls into question their integrity..." I couldn't hold my tongue any more, standing and cutting across Peterson, shutting him down.

"I would also like to point out to the Defence that the conduct of your clients has been investigated and, unlike Chief Johnson, their conduct was investigated and found to have been criminal, hence our presence here today. I would suggest then that if anyone's integrity should be questioned, you should be looking at your clients"

 **New York**

Kate Beckett was driving back to the precinct from their latest crime scene, keeping her eyes on the road even as she listened to the trial on Castle's new phone; her partner was watching the live coverage on a huge new smartphone he'd bought specifically for the purpose. Esposito and Ryan might have joked about the 'phablet' as they'd dubbed the huge phone when they'd first seen it, but that didn't mean they hadn't crowded around at the crime scene whenever they had a spare moment, like law enforcement personnel across the country the case simultaneously fascinated and repelled them in equal measure. Her partner looked across to her.

"That Defence guy's going in really hard" said Rick Castle, causing Kate to shake her head as she responded.

"If even half of what Alex and that other DA said is true, his clients are guilty as sin Castle, I suppose he's not got much else so he's defaulted to trying to destroy the prosecution witnesses' credibility" She pulled a face like she'd just tasted something foul then continued. "Basically he's flinging as much dirt as he can at the witnesses in the hope some sticks" Rick nodded.

"Can't see Alex standing still for that" he said, they shared a quick glance before Kate returned her eyes to the road and replied quietly.

"Me neither"

 **In Court**

"Very well" Peterson said with ill grace after Craven had sent us back to our seats. "Let us move onto your involvement with this case" Brenda sat impassively as she waited. "You became involved in this case at the instigation of Sharon Raydor, correct"

"At her request, that is correct"

"Was that before or after she ensnared you in a relationship" Brenda's eyes widened then narrowed before she leaned forward.

"I would object to the nature of the word ensnared" I stood.

"As would I Your Honour, that word suggest a level of malice and coercion not appropriate to this circumstance" Seeing Craven nodding in agreement Peterson shrugged and asked again.

"Very well, was that before or after she entered into a relationship with you?" Brenda remained impassive as I sat down.

"Before" she said as the camera's focussed in on her.

"But you were close, were you not, before you slept with her" I debated objecting but decided to let this play out for the moment.

"Commander Raydor had been my friend for a number of years" Peterson smiled all too widely, his voice all faux-jovial.

"So formal Chief, do you refer to each other by your titles when you're in bed together?" Andrea looked to Peterson as she stood.

"Really?" She turned to Craven. "Your Honour, what exactly does this salacious imputation have to do with the capital crimes the defendants are facing and which Mister Peterson has ostensibly been retained to defend them against?" Craven looked to Peterson and spoke up.

"Well Counselor?"

"We will prove that rather than a dispassionate investigator, Chief Johnson was motivated by a desire to protect and please her lesbian lover, sufficient enough that her usual objectivity was lacking" Andrea looked to Craven and shook her head.

"And the Defence bases this supposition on what exactly, besides gossip and their own innuendo?"

"Be seated counsellor" He looked to Peterson. "This does have a point, doesn't it counsellor?"

"Yes Your Honour, we intend to prove malice and prejudice" Craven frowned.

"Strong assertions there counsellor, I hope for your sake you're right" He nodded. "Continue"

 **Boston BPD Division 1 Homicide**

Riley Cooper glanced up from her desk where she was watching the trial on her computer, looking towards Lieutenant Cavanagh's office, it was empty, had been ever since he'd had an urgent meeting with Marquette two days ago, but the last thing she needed was her homophobic boss hearing this sort of crap.

It was that sort of bigoted attitude that had driven Maura and Jane to leave Boston to get away from it, more and more Riley was coming to the conclusion that if she wanted to be happy and open and out about her relationship with Suzie downstairs in the morgue, she was going to have to move out of homicide into another area, somewhere outside Cavanagh's ability to fuck up their lives.

She didn't want to, she was good at her job, she had the arrests and convictions to back that up, she and Frost worked well together, plus she appreciated the advice and mentoring she was getting from Korsak. In the end however it was pretty apparent that if Cavanagh learned she and Suzie were what he'd so charmingly described Jane and Maura as; 'a pair of rug-munching cunts', then he'd turn his bile and vitriol on them as well.

She grimaced to herself. If they were to be happy together it was looking like she would have to move somewhere else to get away from him, something she wasn't looking forward to, but looked more and more inevitable. Shaking her head, she turned back to the screen, to see that bigoted old fart of a judge letting the defence lawyer get away with his shit-throwing at that female cop.

Maybe she was biased but she sure as hell didn't think the gender of who you loved affected your ability to investigate crimes, an attitude she was sad to say she didn't share with her boss here in Boston or that sleazy lawyer in Los Angeles.

 **In Court**

"Very well Chief Johnson, let me get the facts straight" Peterson glanced at the jury then continued. "Your 'friend' Sharon Raydor…"He put particular emphasis on the word friend. "…invited you in to assist her with an investigation into a crime she was not able to solve. Working together you determined that a number of LAPD officers, almost all men, were to wear the blame for these crimes, during the course of this dual investigation you became involved with Sharon Raydor, was it during this time that she infected you with her loathing for male officers?" Brenda shook her head and leaned forward to answer.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, I do not loath male officers, in fact I lead a team that contains a number of male officers, have done so for over eight years, so I obviously do not loath them" Peterson waved her objections away.

"We'll get to that soon enough" I frowned at that rather ominous foreshadowing, seeing Andrea doing the same. Peterson took a few steps to one side so that he was looking at Brenda while facing the jury and cameras, making Brenda look away from the jury to him, it was an old tactic. "So Chief Johnson, you and your paramour conspired to bring these charges against the defendants?" Brenda was too experienced a hand to fall for that, turning to look at the jury as she responded.

"No, we did not conspire about anything, we followed the evidence trail" Peterson shook his head.

"Not from where I stand you didn't; after all, your girlfriend had been harassing Detective Sergeant Kennedy for some time prior to his unwarranted arrest" Brenda went to answer but he cut her off. "Leaving aside semantics for a moment, let's look at the facts. You and your lover needed a major case to get her promoted, something to get her noticed by the LAPD leadership, so you settled on finding a number of innocent officers who you realised were suitable to be stitched up"

"Objection Your Honour" It was Andrea, she'd beaten me to it, I'd been about a second behind her, too busy being surprised by his assertions. "The Defence attributes motives without proof, it seems that innuendo and slander has become their stock in trade" She looked at Craven and shook her head. "Now he accuses senior LAPD officers of criminal conduct without evidence of any kind" Craven looked to Peterson.

"Can Defence prove your accusations counsel, with proof?" Peterson was silent, leaving Craven to shake his head and look to the jury. "The jury will disregard that statement" He looked back to Peterson. "Continue"

"Yes your Honour" He turned back to Brenda as Andrea sat down. "Tell me Chief Johnson, would you call yourself an unprejudiced person?" Brenda nodded.

"I certainly try to be"

"Do you find yourself discriminating against specific social groups, Mexicans, African-Americans, Latinos or Asians because of their ethnic background? Do they remind you of the criminal elements you so often have to arrest" Brenda shook her head.

"Not at all, I try and treat everyone equally, I have had a number of people of colour in my squad, men and women both, and see them as individuals first, detectives second, their colour comes a long way behind that" Peterson nodded.

"So you don't discriminate? Brenda shook her head.

"No" Peterson turned, standing in such a way that the jury and camera's got him full on as he played to both.

"What about the discrimination against heterosexual men you're guilty of?" Brenda's eyes widened and her response carried her surprise in tone as well as words.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You have shown a distinct preference for gay women in your squad, I mean you're gay, so you must prefer them to straight men" Ignoring Brenda's open mouthed state of shock he continued. "Face facts, you're in a relationship with a colleague, Sharon Raydor, three of your detectives are lesbians, you're close friends with the LAPDs media woman and coroner, they're both gay, so too is the Bureau's liaison to the LAPD, the ill-starred Agent Romanov" He waved our way as both Andrea and I surged to our feet. "Both your lawyers too"

"Objection!"

"Your Honour, please!" Peterson was unfazed, slipping another cheap shot in.

"Nice little lesbian clique you've got going here Chief Johnson, wouldn't you agree?" Craven looked to us,

"Yes?" I looked to Andrea and nodded, she could handle this as I sat down.

"Your Honour, what exactly does the sexual preferences of the witness have to do with this case?" He looked to Peterson who shrugged as he replied.

"Chief Johnson is gay, as obviously is Raydor; she has surrounded herself with women of similar proclivities, replacing straight men who have been transferred out of Major Crimes, her closest associates are all lesbians, all of whom played a part in helping Sharon Raydor bring this ill-starred case against my clients, I believe that the actions of these witnesses, people like Maura Isles are questionable, given they are all working together to send my clients to prison for crimes they did not commit" Craven sat there, looking between Peterson and us, then looked to Brenda.

"Chief Johnson, are the claims of the Defence correct?" Brenda turned to face him, her eyes flicking to us where we both nodded, honesty was needed here.

"Yes Your Honour, as previously stated Commander Raydor and I, we are in a relationship" He nodded as Peterson spoke up.

"And your female detectives too!" Craven glanced his way then back at Brenda.

"Is this true?" Brenda nodded.

"Two of the detectives in Major Crimes were in relationships prior to their joining Major Crimes, both were on secondment to the LAPD from Boston and New York respectively" She shifted in her seat as she continued. "The third detective was a more recent transfer into the team from within the LAPD, and was also in a relationship prior to joining Major Crimes" Craven nodded slowly, glancing at Andrea and I, taking in our expressions, I was livid and Andrea was no better, before looking back to Brenda.

"Were these detectives involved in this case?" Brenda shook her head, blonde hair swishing across her shoulders.

"No Your Honour, two of the three detectives in question did not join Major Crimes until after the case was well and truly closed" I held my tongue, Mikki Mendoza was a borderline case, given she'd been there to help arrest one of the suspects but still… Craven pursed his lips.

"But the Defence's other claims, about Agent Romanov and the other women involved in this case, they're correct?" Brenda shifted slightly in her seat again, glancing my way before answering.

"Partially, for example DDA Cabot did not join the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office until quite recently" Craven looked at her and frowned.

"But the others, the Medical Examiner the Defence have mentioned and the other woman…" He looked to Peterson. "What was her name?"

"Natalie Dearing, she's the police's media woman Your Honour" Craven nodded to Peterson and turned back to Brenda.

"Yes, what about these women's relationships with the investigating officers then, Chief Johnson?"

"They are involved in relationships with other woman, yes" Craven pursed his lips then pressed the point.

"And these other women were also involved in the investigation?" Brenda nodded, drawing a clarification from Craven. "Who were they?"

"Major Crimes' Sergeant Rizzoli, and Special Agent Romanov" Craven sat back for a moment then looked to Andrea and I, then to Peterson.

"So the assertion by Counsel that a majority of the people involved in both the investigation and the prosecution are gay is in fact correct" Andrea spoke up before Brenda could reply.

"Your Honour, the personal relationship choices of the people involved in this case are quite frankly irrelevant, certainly not suitable material for a salacious fishing expedition by the Defence" I nodded from where I stood by her side and spoke up.

"It would be akin to tainting the testimony of officers prosecuting a gay crime because they are heterosexual. Since when does an individual detective's sexuality play a part in their fitness to undertake their profession? Certainly not in any case law I am familiar with" I looked across to Peterson and shook my head. "I thought that sort of attitude was a relic of a bygone era, one we have, fortunately, left far behind" Craven sat back and regarded us both, no doubt remembering our warnings. Finally he shook his head.

"I see merit in allowing the Defence to continue to explore this avenue, for the moment at least. Prosecution will resume their seats, Defence, you may continue" Andrea and I exchanged a look of disbelief as Peterson smiled widely.

"Thank you Your Honour. Chief Johnson, let's talk about the peculiar makeup of the team you and your lover Sharon Raydor assembled to bring these unwarranted charges against my clients"

The look on Brenda's face mirrored the way I felt, a combination of sick and appalled.

 **Los Angeles Hollywood Division Homicide**

Chloe Decker looked up from her computer and shook her head, something her partner, the civilian consultant Lucifer Morningstar noticed, he tipped his head to regard her and spoke quietly.

"Is everything alright Detective?" Chloe shook her head.

"That Defence lawyer is doing everything he can to smear the reputations of some of the LAPDs top female officers, everything I've heard about Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor says that they're both good, dedicated officers" Lucifer nodded and propped himself on the corner of her desk.

"Well, given what little I know of the trial, it would seem the Defence has little else to go on, if he cannot contest the evidence he has to try and contest the people" Lucifer smiled brightly at her. "Playing the man, or woman in this case, not the ball, so to speak" Chloe nodded.

"Yeah, but this sticks in my gut, I mean I considered applying for Major Crimes when they had some openings a few months back, before I changed my mind, that was partly because I'd get to work with Chief Johnson" Chloe looked up at her partner. "She's really that good"

"Then why on earth didn't you detective?" he asked, puzzled. Chloe smiled up at him.

"I don't think that you'd be allowed to work with me there, so it wasn't worth it" Her smile widened at the look of surprise that appeared on his face. He sat there for a few seconds, obviously considering what she'd said before finally replying.

"You passed up a chance to work with someone you admire to continue to work with me?" He smiled softly. "I'm truly touched detective" Chloe reached up and brushed a wisp of hair back behind her ear as she smiled happily.

"I'm happy enough exactly where I am right here"

The smile she got from her partner made her day.

 **New York**

It was a little later than usual but it was dinner time in the Priestly household. Both Andrea and I had been working back a bit late, but we'd agreed not long after we had got together and Andrea had started staying over evenings, that we would do everything we could to ensure we were home to share dinner with the twins.

Now we were sitting down over dinner and discussing the day's schooling with Caroline and Cassidy; they were discussing the Contemporary Social Studies class they had attended today.

"Yeah, it was a lot more fun than normal mommy" Caroline enthused, with Cassidy backing her sibling up.

"Yes, rather than boring stuff, we got to watch that trial in California" I noticed Andrea suddenly swallow convulsively at that comment as I wondered what had happened; intrigued I decided to prod the discussion along a little.

"Oh, which trial was that?" Caroline got in first.

"The one about the crooked police killing people" I raised my eyebrow at that, wondering why on earth a trial in California was of interest in a New York classroom; I'd been immersed in the next issue of Runway and hadn't taken particular note of the news lately so I decided to probe a little more.

"Why were they showing that to your class?"

"Well…" Cassidy began before Caroline butted in.

"They showed it because the teacher said it was a case study of entrenched sociological gender mores in a patriarchal-dominated system" I narrowed my eyes at that before turning to Andrea who was being very quiet, asking the question.

"Really?" She nodded and started explaining.

"It's a big case, a group of LAPD cops were apparently taking money to act as assassins for a Mexican drug cartel" I nodded then raised an eyebrow as I bade her continue. Obviously reluctantly she did so. "The prosecution has made some pretty nasty accusations about the police who investigated and caught them" I tipped my head to regard her, wondering why it was so important.

"Oh, how so?" Cassidy jumped in.

"Yeah, he says they were biased because they were gay" Caroline nodded quickly.

"Yeah, he's being really nasty too" I shook my head then spoke to them both.

"That is simply unacceptable; discriminating against someone because of their choice of partner is the very worst of behaviour" I fixed them both with a look. "I would hope you had not been exposed to any of that sort of behaviour at school" They both shook their heads before Caroline smiled.

"It's okay mommy, we've all had the sensitivity classes" Cassidy jumped in.

"Yeah, but the Judge and that Peterson guy need to do them" Caroline nodded vigorously.

"Yeah, you shouldn't be nasty to people because of who they love" I exchanged a satisfied look with Andrea before I replied.

"That is exactly right my darlings, who you love does not affect what sort of person you are" Cassidy nodded.

"Like you and Andie, you're both still the people you were before, just happier now" she said; I couldn't help but smile at that uncannily accurate summation of our relationship. Caroline smiled as she spoke.

"We like it when you're happy and Andie makes you happy and you make her happy too" At her words I smiled proudly as Andrea nodded and spoke.

"Yep, no one should be discriminated against because of who they love" I nodded happily at her words, I'd worked hard to make sure the twins understood that we were all worthy of respect and I was glad to see they'd taken that lesson to heart. However there was still the issue that had started this discussion. "Tell me more about this trial" They looked at each other and both started.

"It's really bad…"

"It's gross, they…" I held up a hand.

"One at a time please" I looked at Cassidy and nodded. "You first please my darling" She nodded and dived back in.

"It's really bad, the bad guys, the crooked cops, they were killing people for money, the drug cartels were paying them to kill people" I narrowed my eyes as I nodded then turned to Caroline, raising an eyebrow and giving her permission to speak.

"Some of the things they did were really gross, some of the people they kidnapped and then killed was bad" I frowned, not following her. Undeterred she was still going. "The lawyer for the bad cops is saying that the good cops who arrested them weren't doing the right thing because they were gay" I raised one eyebrow at that and turned to Andrea.

"Oh really, what are your thoughts darling?" She nodded once then spoke.

"The defence counsel, Peterson, is making some nasty assertions about the investigating officers, it's got pretty strained in the courtroom" I frowned at her words.

"I was under the impression that the judge was supposed to stop that sort of thing?" She scowled; obviously what she had seen had made quite an impression, something her words confirmed.

"The judge has been letting the defence counsel get away with some pretty questionable things" She shook her head. "Frankly I don't know how he's getting away with some of it" I thought that over for a second, seeing the twins nodding in agreement with Andrea's statement as I pressed the issue.

"Do go on" She nodded once then replied.

"He's pushing the line pretty hard" She paused for a moment, frowning, then pushed on. "There's another thing you should be aware of…" I just looked at her as she trailed off then spoke.

"Yes…"

"The prosecutor, well one of them, is Alex" I frowned; the only lawyer I was aware of named Alex was Alex Cabot, surely not her… Taking in Andrea's expression I realised exactly who it was.

"Alex Cabot is prosecuting?" She nodded as she replied.

"Yeah, she's on a secondment to Los Angeles along with Olivia and she's been co-prosecuting the case" She nibbled her bottom lip for a moment then pressed on. "You should know that the crooked cops tried to kill the police investigating their case and well…we know them too" I carefully placed my knife and fork down on the plate and folded my hands under my chin as I regarded Andrea for a moment, then spoke.

"Indeed? Please continue" She copied my gesture, putting the cutlery down and sitting up straight as she replied.

"The cops who caught them include Maura Isles, Natalie Dearing, Anastasia Romanov and Jane Rizzoli" I blinked at that, surprised beyond words. To find out not only was Alex prosecuting a case on the far side of the country, but that the police involved were her friends, 'our friends' I amended, it was almost unbelievable.

"How is Alex prosecuting a case in California?" I asked, causing Andrea to grimace.

"Olivia was working a case with Kate Beckett…" I nodded, I remembered hearing about that case, Andrea had helped break the story in the media, a very good story as I recalled with a little thrill of pride. "Well after the story broke, elements within the NYPD tried to punish her for leaking to the media" she said, holding up her hand to stop me breaking in. "They had no proof but they suspected Olivia was our source, which she was of course, so they set about forcing her out, they put her on suspension, threatened to assign her to administration duties, basically punishing her for being a good cop who cared about the victims"

I scowled, the case had been a particularly bad one from what I recalled reading, involving multiple dead children and a child sex ring; the trail had led back to a number of very powerful people. They'd denied everything of course but the links that Andrea and the other journalists who'd put the story together had established were pretty much incontrovertible. Obviously those people had decided to use their power to make Olivia pay. I narrowed my eyes and bade Andrea continue.

"And?" At my encouragement Andrea pressed on.

"When their friends in LA heard they arranged for a secondment for Olivia to their section in the LAPD, while Alex got a secondment to the Los Angeles DA's office for the same duration" I frowned at that, angry I hadn't known.

"Why didn't I know about that?" Andrea smiled as she attempted to mollify my concerns.

"You were in Europe for two weeks, over at Paris Fashion Week then visited several of the Italian fashion houses while it was all happening, in fact it all happened very quickly" She smiled. "Since then you've been really busy with the New York Fashion Week issue then this one" I frowned, I had been busy, there was no doubt about that, but to have missed this…

"I see" Andrea pushed on as the twins listened raptly, obviously enthralled by the personal connections.

"So Alex is co-prosecutor on the case with another woman, she's named Andrea too; can you believe it? Anyway, the criminals were LAPD cops on the Sinaloa cartel's payroll, being paid to kill people in LA that the Cartel wanted dead" She shook her head slowly. "It's an amazing story, they killed almost 40 people before they got caught, with Jane and Maura and the others heavily involved in the investigation" I smiled at her enthusiasm for the tale.

"No doubt it is a story you would like to have covered?" She nodded eagerly.

"Oh yeah, it's a great story, I'd love to have had it" She shrugged. "Anyway, based on the evidence the prosecution's supposed to have, the defence hasn't got a leg to stand on, so they're trying to smear the investigators, particular the two senior officers, Commander Sharon Raydor and Deputy Chief Brenda Leigh Johnson, who you know about"

I sat back, remembering them well from the images we'd had shot for Runway's planned 'Women in Law Enforcement' article. They were both attractive women, especially given their age and the weight of their responsibilities as senior police with distinguished records. Andrea had paused, obviously seeing my reaction, she nodded and spoke.

"Yeah, small world isn't it? So the defence lawyer's gone after both Jane and Ana because they're gay…" She shook her head angrily. "I don't doubt he's going to go after Maura and Natalie for the same reason" She suddenly stopped as a strange expression crossed her face, before she spoke again, slowly. "I wonder if he knows about Alex…" Cassidy jumped in.

"Alex is gay isn't she?" Caroline, ever eager to one up her sister nodded.

"Of course she is, she's with Olivia" Cassidy pulled a face, obviously chagrined to be caught out by her twin.

"Oh yeah, that's right" she said as I pursed my lips while I thought that through, Alex was not one to take a backwards step, she would most definitely not take an attack on her relationship with Olivia lying down.

"I was not aware of this trial, but let us hope that the judge remembers his responsibilities and puts a stop to these unwarranted character attacks" They all grimaced before Andrea spoke.

"Not much chance of that, he's let a lot slide"

"Yes mommy, he's being a jerk" It was Caroline with Cassidy hot on her heels.

"A total waste of oxygen" I frowned a little, before I could say anything however Andrea spoke quickly.

"You really should try and catch some of the trial if you can Miranda, they're carrying it live on cable plus all of the mainstream news outlets have summaries" I understood it was important but still…

"I understand that's important darling, but I have Runway to pull together" Andrea looked at me and leaned forward a little, her voice earnest and urgent.

"Please Miranda, I think it's important" Caroline was the first to jump in.

"Yes mommy, you should see it, that Petersen man was being really nasty" Cassidy followed her sister.

"Yes, our teacher said that the judge was equally com…compl..."

"Complicit?" Andrea helpfully added, getting a nod from Cassidy.

"Yeah, he was being complicit by allowing him to say those things" I sighed.

"I will see if I can, though you know how busy it is with getting the next issue out" Andrea looked at me imploringly.

"Please Miranda, spend a little time watching it, it's really important" Caroline was next.

"Yes mommy, please do" Not to be left out Cassidy chimed in.

It's important mom" At my three girls earnest looks I sighed, I couldn't deny them something they all considered important, there was no use fighting it, I'd already lost.

"Very well my darlings, I'll make some time tomorrow to watch it" The matching smiles I got in return warmed my heart, I'd made them all very happy and all it took was a little of my time. At that thought I looked up to see Andrea watching me, the look in her eyes for me alone, drawing a smile from me at her in return.


	6. Chapter 6

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 06** **– Innuendo**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

The Defence had the floor and Callum Cox was cross interrogating Sharon. He'd not quite crossed the line yet, but he was getting closer and closer to it. I could tell from Sharon's rigidly-held face that she was unhappy and angry and trying desperately not to let it show.

Cox had tried to chip away at her for a while, intimating she didn't like the Robbery / Homicide team, dragging up her clashes with Taylor. At one point he had tried to suggest that she'd targeted Taylor's team out of personal animus; that had brought a quick objection from Andrea, pointing out that FID only got called in after a shooting; Sharon and her team didn't get to select who they investigated. Undeterred Cox was currently pursuing questions about her personal relationship with Taylor in particular and the rest of the defendants in general.

Cox was pushing pretty hard, at one point he'd intimated that Sharon was hated amongst the force; trying to get her to agree that so many cops had good reason to hate her, to wish her harm, not necessarily his clients. Andrea and I had worked hard to shut down that line of questioning, generally successfully, but the fact that Cox was taking point instead of Ling or Peterson suggested they thought he could make leeway here on undermining our case.

"So you would agree that your tenure as head of Force Investigations Division had led you to be feared throughout the Force?" I frowned but kept my cool, waiting for a chance to shut him down as Sharon answered.

"Not intentionally, however there are stories, exaggerated ones; that provide a mistaken view of the roles, responsibilities and powers of the Force Investigation Division"

"So you cannot recommend that officers be censured, demoted, dismissed from the LAPD or even face criminal charges then?" I narrowed my eyes as I watched, waiting to intervene.

"Those outcomes are possible, but very rarely used or needed" Sharon glanced at the jury then continued. "The overwhelming majority of cases are closed in less than 72 hours with the officers under investigation being cleared and their weapons personally returned to them"

"So to what do you attribute your terrifying reputation for arbitrary behavior and harsh treatment of officers?" Sharon wasn't fazed; she'd obviously seen where he was going.

"Officers don't like being told that they could have handled a dangerous situation involving a shooting in another way, something that calls their judgment into question" She looked towards the jury. "The majority of officers will pass through a post-shooting investigation quickly and without censure. Others will be advised to undertake refresher training in areas that may have either averted the shooting entirely, or resulted in a less unfortunate outcome"

"Unfortunate, that's one word for it perhaps" I suddenly focused in on Cox, he was leading up to something, I could tell. "Tell me Commander Raydor, how many of the officers you have had censured, demoted, dismissed or charged have been male?" I could see the surprise in Sharon's face at the question, even as I stood.

"Objection your honour, what exactly has this somewhat wayward line of questioning got to do with the case against the defendant's?" Craven looked from me to Cox who answered smoothly.

"As I stated the last time the Prosecution interrupted my questioning of this witness, we seek to prove malice against the defendant's" He smiled, cocky bastard. "Perhaps counsel is hard of hearing" Craven tipped his head to regard Cox then nodded.

"Proceed" I sat back down as Cox picked up the questioning again.

"How many Commander Raydor?" Sharon had managed to regain her composure.

The majority of officers investigated for officer involved shootings are male, reflective of the current gender balance of the Department" Cox pounced on that.

"I didn't ask about investigations Captain, I asked about adverse findings. How many were against male officers?" Sharon looked a trifle puzzled, something that came out in her next words.

"I don't have exact figures with me, over what period?" Cox was all smiles, he obviously knew something.

"The last financial year" Sharon frowned in thought before answering.

"As I said I don't have the exact figures to hand but I believe it was on the order of twenty or twenty two in total" Cox took a step back and picked up a paperback, waving it around for a moment as he spoke.

"According to the LAPD's annual report for the last financial year, it was twenty six, twenty five of which were male" Sharon sat back, watching Cox carefully as she replied.

"If those are the figures in the annual report then they are correct" Cox nodded, dropping the publication back on the desk before continuing

"Commander, as one of the Department's senior female officers could you please enlighten the court by outlining what is the ratio of male to female officers in the LAPD?" Sharon's response was immediate.

"At the current moment I understand it is approximately 81 per cent male, 19 per cent female" Cox nodded.

"Near enough, so by rights female officers should make up five of the twenty six adverse findings should they not?" Sharon shook her head.

"The numbers are not reflective of the overall percentage…"

"No they are not, are they Commander?" Cox interrupted as Sharon tried to continue.

"…because the number of women in front-line policing roles is somewhat lower" Cox smiled as he spoke.

"Somewhat lower, is it one in twenty lower, Commander?"

"Not quite, the percentage is somewhat higher than that, though I don't have exact figures immediately to hand"

"I do Commander and it is eleven percent of front line policing roles occupied by women" He gestured behind him towards the table. "According to the LAPDs own annual report" Turning back he walked towards Sharon. "By the information in the LAPDs own Annual Report, and granting you the lower number of female officers in front line policing roles, shouldn't the ratio of officers you subject to adverse findings amount to two or three of the officers Commander?" Sharon shook her head.

"Only if there was a direct correlation in the numbers under investigation with the overall percentage of officers"

"And there isn't?" Sharon held herself still as she answered.

"Force Investigation Division only investigates those officers who have been involved in a use of force scenario, usually firearms related. The number and gender of the officers who are the subject of an investigation are not determined by Force Investigation, with the division called in only after an event"

"But it is you who makes adverse findings isn't it Commander Raydor?" Sharon nodded.

"Based on the investigations carried out by the Force Investigation Division, I am the one who signs off on the recommended course of action"

"Including censure, reduction in rank and of course, dismissal" Sharon nodded once.

"If the investigation determines that is warranted, which is not often"

"But often enough against male officers eh Commander?" he asked, causing Sharon to frown as she answered.

"There are quite literally hundreds of use of force investigations each year, of which only 26 resulted in an adverse finding in the last year" Cox shook his head.

"Far too many wouldn't you say?" Sharon tipped her head to regard him and suddenly smiled, Cox had overplayed his hand.

"From your current perspective perhaps, a position shared with that of the Police Union as well; on the other hand, many civil liberties groups consider that number far too few. The more extreme of those groups would seek to have any officer who discharges their firearm resulting in a death to be censured and preferably, dismissed" She shrugged. "Clearly those groups would not agree with your assessment, nor you with theirs" Cox grimaced, he obviously hadn't expected that.

"What do you consider the correct number then Commander?" Sharon frowned slightly then looked up.

"Ideally none, however examples arise where officers undertake actions that are not warranted by the circumstances, in which case the investigation will recommend a response"

"Including dismissal?" Sharon shook her head.

"Only in the small number of cases annually where no other response is appropriate"

"I see, appropriate, an interesting word, it suggests proportionate to the action" Sharon sat there warily, waiting to see where he was going with this. "Based on your own figures it seems that your actions were anything but. Male officers are far more likely to suffer at your hands than females, up to and including having their lives ruined"

"That was not why Force Investigation was established…" Cox spoke over her.

"It's what it's become though. Based on your own figures…" He brandished the annual report as he spoke. "…a male officer is over 20 times more likely to get an adverse finding at your hands than a woman" Cox shrugged. "Hardly surprising though" Sharon turned a cold look on Cox but said nothing as I swapped a glance with Andrea, she was leaning forward, looking for a chance to intervene.

"After all, in the recent reorganization of the Robbery / Homicide team, the one where you were promoted into over better-qualified candidates, you immediately filled it with female officers, some you brought with you from Force Investigation, others directly appointed"

"I selected the best officers available" Cox was openly skeptical.

"The best, really, then how many male officers did you bring with you from Force Investigation Division" Sharon frowned.

"None" Cox smiled widely.

"None? I suppose it figures" Sharon's head had lowered, as had her voice as she tried to stay cool at Cox's provocations.

"Because they received promotions within Force Investigation" she explained. Cox nodded.

"Ah, so you had to be moved on before they could be promoted" Sharon shook her head.

"That is not the correct reason, until people left through promotion or transfer there were no slots available for promotion within the division"

"So you moved, and took one of the females with you to your new job?" Cox raised his eyebrows. "Why her?" Sharon looked at him then spoke.

"Because that officer had just passed the promotions board to Sergeant and there was a Sergeant's slot in Robbery / Homicide to be filled"

"And none of the men in your previous division warranted being looked after the same way?"

"The available Sergeant's slot open in Force Investigation had been filled by an internal promotion" Cox raised an eyebrow skeptically before he glanced at the jury.

"So you moved her with you into your new squad and brought in additional women to replace men in Robbery Homicide, the same as your girlfriend Johnson did in Major Crimes" I was already rising, Andrea beside me as Cox continued. "Were they all lesbians too?"

"Objection!" Andrea and I spoke as one, getting Craven to look our way.

"Prosecution?"

"What does any of this salacious scandal-mongering have to do with the witnesses' investigation and arrest of the suspects" Andrea shook her head. "So far we've heard nothing but locker room gossip recycled here in this courtroom, with almost no attempt to discuss the case we're actually supposed to be conducting"

I inwardly winced at her phrasing, she'd obliquely criticised Craven's handling of the trial, not that he didn't deserve it but in front of the cameras wasn't the best place, the network's talking heads were going to have a field day with that, given they were already spending way too much time in my opinion discussing irrelevancies such as who was wearing the better clothing labels, god knows they'd spent ten minutes yesterday discussing whether the heels I was wearing that day were Louboutin's because they had red soles. The fact that they were was irrelevant, they were supposed to be covering the case, not my label choices. Craven narrowed his eyes at Andrea, obviously replaying her words then looked to Cox.

"Defence?" Cox was cool.

"Your Honour, I intend to prove that the witness was motivated not by the need to locate the perpetrators of the crimes that had been undertaken, but instead to conform to an agenda, the same one that she shared with her lover, Johnson" I spoke up.

"What agenda?" That got me a hard look from Craven but I didn't care, staring at Cox who shrugged.

"They share so many things in common, a predilection for women, gay women I point out, in their teams and in their lives"

"It is my understanding that there are no gay members within Commander Raydor's team, with the singular exception of the Commander herself" I threw Cox an insolent look as I continued. "Of course we can't expect the Defence to let things like facts get in their way can we, hmm?"

"Or so you say?" Cox retorted as Andrea and I both turned and looked to Craven, our expressions cold, but he waved us back to our seats.

"The Prosecution will be seated" Slowly, reluctantly we lowered ourselves down, expecting the worst, it didn't take long, I could see Sharon's rigidly held face as we awaited the next blow. Cox turned to address the jury.

"Besides sleeping her way to the top, one woman at a time, Raydor's attitude to her fellow, male officers, suggests that she utterly despises her less...unconventional peers" From beside me Andrea's tone was quiet but sharp as a knife.

"Unconventional?" Craven looked to Cox and raised an eyebrow, driving him to expand.

"Commander Raydor is well known for her disdain of rank and file officers, why since her elevation to the head of Force Investigation her activities have become rightly feared, given her obvious pleasure in having the power to ruin officer's careers, plus she has made her distaste for her colleagues, in particular and almost exclusively her male colleagues well known..." He looked to Sharon and smiled. "Do you enjoy destroying the careers, the lives of male officers Miss Raydor; do you get off knowing you can destroy men's lives simply because you can?"

"Objection" I was on my feet. "Defence is badgering the witness" Craven nodded and looked to Cox.

"Conduct your cross examination appropriately Counselor" Cox nod and I sat as he turned back to Sharon whose face was set in stone.

"Commander Raydor, would you not agree that you have a reputation for arbitrary behavior" amongst LAPD officers?" Sharon shook her head.

"I would not characterise it as such, as I have previously explained"

"Then why do you have a reputation as the Ice Queen of the LAPD?" Sharon sat there still as she replied.

"My role precludes getting close to individual rank and file officers, given I may be called upon to pass judgment on their actions at some point. That distance and formality, necessary as it is, does lead to a certain feeling of remoteness from many officers" She shook her head. "I was aware of the description you used, though I neither welcome nor embrace it"

"Come now Miss Raydor, you have the reputation for a reason, as does your lover, Johnson, the Ice Queen and the Beauty Queen I believe they call you, looking down your noses at the normal members of the LAPD while you hold them in contempt"

"I hold no member of the LAPD in contempt" She leaned forward. "Well beyond your clients that is" She gave him a wintery smile. "Given they made three attempts to have me killed I'm sure that's completely understandable, even by you"

"Just answer the questions Miss Raydor"

"It is Commander Raydor actually Mister Cox, and if you continue to misrepresent my words and actions, rest assured…I will correct you" Cox shook his head and turned to the jury.

The…Commander…here has a well-founded reputation for destroying the lives of heterosexual male officers at her whim, she and her lover hold those officers in contempt even as she and her lover, together with their equally reprehensible fellow lesbian coven members, spread their malign influence across the department"

I ground my teeth as at Cox's words even as Andrea stood, Craven catching the movement as Cox paused, Andrea's voice was low with barely repressed anger.

"Explain 'reprehensible' Counselor" Cox seemed unfazed.

"Sharon Raydor has had a series of relationships with women, bed hopping from one to the next to advance her career, successfully I might add, most recently seducing a senior colleague, Johnson, to obtain an undeserved promotion over the heads of better qualified men while holding the heterosexual male members of the LAPD in utter contempt, those whose lives and careers she couldn't destroy"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Media Centre**

Natalie Dearing and Maura Isles were sitting in Nat's office, ostensibly chatting about work but really taking a break to watch the trial. They'd been sharing increasingly worried glances back and forth throughout Cox's cross-examination as he tried to smear Sharon for being gay; at this latest comment though they couldn't remain silent.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me!" Natalie burst out then looked to her friend. "Sorry" she apologised as Maura waved it aside.

"I completely understand the sentiment, the smears and innuendo being liberally thrown about by the Defence team are particularly distressing" They shared a look and a head shake as she continued. "The presiding judge really should be enforcing something like order on the Defence team, but is apparently not concerned by their behavior"

"That's not the only thing really stressing me out" Natalie stated. "What is though is the thought that we're going to be sitting there in Sharon's place soon enough, I'm sure they'll do the same to both of us"

They exchanged a worried glance at that unpleasant thought.

 **In Court**

I could practically see the steam coming off Andrea, she and Sharon had been friends for many years and she was losing her focus so before she could speak I reached out and rested my hand on her arm, grabbing her attention as I spoke quietly.

"Please, let me" Andrea must have realised how close she was to losing it, as she nodded once, abruptly, then sat. I nodded to her then stood, not bothering to hide my contempt for Peterson and his team's tawdry behavior, before slowly turning my head to fix Craven with a cold, contemptuous stare, seeing him practically flinch as I did. I didn't care; we'd told him what would happen if the Defence went there and now they had.

"Your Honour, given the truly 'excessive' attention…" I laid great emphasis on the word, all the while knowing it would hit Craven hard. "… the defence is placing on the personal relationship choices of the law enforcement members who investigated and arrested their clients, I am wondering if we should not have hate crimes added to the docket" Craven's jaw dropped as Peterson shot to his feet beside Cox.

"What the hell?" Ignoring Peterson's words and recovering quickly Craven waved him and Cox back to their seats as his focus remained on me, his eyes narrowed, he knew there was a trap there; he just couldn't see it yet.

"Go on counselor" I took a few steps around the table and stood there, half facing the bench, half the jury, knowing the cameras were sending this out live to where so many interested eyes would be watching, Craven needed to see that he was balancing on the razor's edge and the jury needed to see that, see his response. I saw Craven's eyes narrow; he'd realised I was doing something, just not yet sure what; excellent. I kept the satisfied, evil smile I felt hidden inside as I continued.

"So far the defence seems to be repeatedly suggesting that a major factor in this case is that Deputy Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor are gay" I spread my hands, the classic open hands ' _I have nothing to hide_ ' gesture as I played to the jurors and the cameras. "Given the role the accused have played in attempting to cause harm to these two officers, as well as the other gay law enforcement personnel they targeted, that would seem to suggest that their intended victim's sexuality and choice of partner was a contributing factor in their decision to target them, to mark them for death, in which case that would certainly qualify as a hate crime and I for one would be more than happy to add that to the docket" I shrugged, trying for a nonchalance I didn't feel. "While hate crimes per say are not a capital crime, unless it ends in first degree murder in which case it becomes a Special Circumstance calling for the death penalty, I speak for the prosecution when I say that we would be simply _delighted_ to prosecute the accused as an addendum to the main charges" Peterson was back on his feet along with Humphries' defender, both shouting objections over the whispers of the jury.

"You cannot be serious…"

"Your Honour, please..." Craven was pounding his gavel.

"Silence in the court. All defence counsel will resume their seat. Counselor..." Craven looked unsure how to proceed, the sight of which made me smile inside all over again, finally he sighed. "I don't see a need for a major trial with capital crimes to be further complicated by secondary charges" I shrugged, all obvious sincerity in my attempt to be seen to help him out, then replied.

"As Your Honour is well aware there are numerous precedents in both California and Federal law, however given the 'remarkable' and 'excessive' emphasis the defence is laying on the sexuality of not only the witnesses but the prosecution counsel as well, I would say there is certainly an element of rampant homophobia on obvious display here" Peterson stood.

"Your Honour, the Prosecution's assertions are baseless and I object to their inference" I ignored Peterson and smiled politely at Craven as I continued.

"Perhaps the Defence needs to reacquaint themselves with the legal definition of homophobia" I let my smile turn a little nasty, unconcerned for once how it looked. "I would be more than happy to loan Mister Peterson and his associates the first year legal textbook within which the definition can be found, given they seem to have forgotten the fundamental basics of the law as it relates to discrimination on the basis of sexuality" With no little satisfaction I watched simultaneous filthy scowls break out on the faces of Peterson, Cox and Ling; enjoying it immensely even as I directed my next comments to Craven. "However, in the interests of a focused trial the People are willing to table these matters subsequent to the completion of this trial Your Honor" That set Peterson off again.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Mister Peterson, resume your seat" At Craven's words Peterson looked like he was about to argue the toss, but eventually nodded and sat down.

"You too Ms. Cabot" I smiled, nodded and returned to my seat, seeing Mikki nod my way, glancing at Liv and seeing a small smile on her face, nodding in return and sitting down as Andrea leant in, her voice quiet

"Interesting, I'm not sure we could make it stick though" I just kept smiling as I whispered back.

"It rattled Peterson and the others, while Craven just got a taste of what will happen if we do go off reservation, hopefully it'll make him reign them in" Andrea nodded slowly.

"Might work, it really costs us nothing and it could help" She glanced at me and grimaced for a moment before her face cleared. "My turn to twist the screws and may god have mercy on me" Andrea looked to the bench and shook her head. "Because Craven surely won't" She leaned back then pushed herself to her feet, affecting a world-weary demeanor.

"Your Honour; Defence Counsel seems determined to find someone else to blame for their crimes, including the attempted murders of these officers. While their thrashing around in search of alternative scapegoats is amusing; in fact I await their suggestion it was the work of the Illuminati, Hydra or extraterrestrials with bated breath..." An amused snigger ran through the gallery and even some of the jurors as I didn't bother hiding my smirk at her barbs. "...the fact that one of his clients was recorded on tape haggling with a representative of the Sinaloa Cartel over the price for the murder of these six law enforcement officers does tend to rule out many potential avenues of investigation" Ling was on her feet objecting at that.

"Prosecution is attempting…" Andrea interrupted her, her voice weary as she waved away Ling's words, both physically and verbally.

"Yes yes, attempting to taint the jury's perceptions of your clients, I know, god knows we've heard that song before, over and over again" She looked contemptuously over at Ling. "Sit down and listen up little girl" Ling's jaw dropped as Andrea turned and swept her eyes across the jury, before skewering Peterson with her gaze as she continued.

"Basically, when is the Defence actually going to add something constructive to this trial?" She turned to face the Defence table, letting a shit-eating smirk play across her lips. "Unless perhaps Mister Peterson and his team have negotiated a fee-per-day remuneration arrangement and see value in stringing this trial out for as long as possible" She shrugged. "I suppose world-class muck-raking doesn't come cheap" Cox was on his feet objecting, Ling right beside him but Craven waved them back to their seats as he stared at Andrea, he obviously realised Andrea was leading up to something, he just didn't see it yet. Andrea meanwhile rolled on.

"Otherwise would it be too much for them to actually try a little relevance and get to the point?" The sniggers were if anything even louder, drawing a frown from Craven and filthy scowls from Peterson, Ling and Cox, Andrea however kept going. "Everyone here knows of and supports the concept of innocent until proven guilty. Mister Peterson and his team however apparently have a few caveats to that concept; it would seem that the same basic human rights enjoyed by the rest of the citizens of the United States do not apply to people like gays. After all they attribute all manner of behaviors to people on the basis of who they love, not what they do, without the slightest shred of evidence" She shook her head sadly and then looked up, ignoring Craven and speaking to the jury and the cameras.

"I believe that such behavior when applied in the past on the basis of their skin colour was called racist, when applied to people on the basis of their gender it was called sexist, here it's just pure old-fashioned ugly, ignorant homophobic prejudice" Peterson was onto that instantly, his voice loud.

"Objection!" Ling and Cox were right beside him, objecting loudly as well. The sudden murmuring sounds of the jury and gallery were drowned out as Craven banged his gavel repeatedly.

"Court will recess for fifteen minutes, Cabot, Hobbs, in my chambers now!"

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

On the 12th Precinct's Homicide floor Kate Beckett shook her head, even as she looked over at her partner.

"Oh damn, that judge is playing with fire" Rick Castle nodded from where he was sitting, watching the coverage on her computer.

"Yep, he's pretty obviously anti-gay, I mean the sexuality of the cops is neither here nor there really" He glanced at Kate and continued. "I'm no lawyer, but I would have thought he should have shut the defence team down ages ago" Kate nodded, a small frown creasing the skin above the bridge of her nose.

"Me neither, but it sure looks that way to me" She turned to look at Castle, ignoring the talking head on the streaming video who was commenting on the 'sudden and controversial direction the case had taken', instead she focused on what mattered. "Given Alex and apparently that other prosecutor, Hobbs, are gay, they're probably taking this as a direct personal attack" Castle nodded.

"Yeah, that's what I thought, Alex's held it together so far but god help them if she really loses it" Kate tipped her head to regard him.

"Who, Alex, or the Judge and that creep Peterson?" Castle looked worried as he looked up, our eyes locking as he spoke.

"Yes"

 **Judge Craven's Chambers**

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Do you want every gay rights group in the country dropping on this trial like a ton of bricks? I can assure you I don't, so tone it down counselors" I crossed my arms and stared at him.

"We didn't bring this particular gun to court, defence did. They brought it, they loaded it and they put it on the table. This they can hardly complain when we pick it up and use it against them and neither can the court"

"I don't appreciate your tone Miss Cabot" I said nothing as Andrea shrugged, looking completely unrepentant.

"We did warn you what would happen if they went there. They did" Craven's frown deepened.

"What do you mean?" Andrea mirrored my pose as we stood there side by side while she replied.

"So far defence has either explicitly or implicitly suggested that their clients didn't get a deal because of the sexuality of the officers who arrested them, that someone may have targeted Deputy Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor because of their sexuality, suggested that those same officers were not of sound mind because of their sexuality, that they were appointed to their roles because of their sexuality, that the investigations of the team who closed this case are driven by their sexuality and now have the nerve to suggest that their testimony may in some way be either unsatisfactory or somehow tainted because of their sexuality" She paused to look at him. "At what point is enough, enough?" Craven shook his head as Andrea kept going. "I for one do not like having my competence and professionalism questioned because of the gender of the person I love, and I speak for Counselor Cabot when I wish it noted just how inappropriate the Defence's behavior has been throughout this case" I nodded but Craven ignored that.

"Your antics in my court are neither appreciated nor wanted" At his statement I almost sneered at him.

"I don't appreciate Peterson's antics in your court either" Craven looked at me and scowled.

"Watch your tone Counselor" I shook my head angrily, feeling my temper, never a sure thing, start to rise.

"Why? Because you don't like the fact that I'm calling it like it is" His scowl deepened as he half-snarled at me.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I didn't, couldn't take a backwards step.

"So far you've called us in here twice to object to the way we are prosecuting this case. Meanwhile Peterson is out there dragging the good names and reputations of the two most senior female officers of the LAPD and their respective teams through the mud, with your compliance I might add. After all I don't see you calling him to account for it. What exactly is your problem?" I could see the anger in his face.

"I am very close to declaring you in contempt Cabot" Ignoring him I took several steps over to a chair and sat, steepling my fingers and looking at Craven over them. I was about to take a big risk, but we had to if we were going to get Craven to start behaving like the Judge he was supposed to be, not the homophobic fool he'd been so far.

"That would be a monumentally foolish thing to do" I raised an eyebrow at him and continued. "Toss an openly gay lawyer, defending outstanding, oft-decorated officers from being smeared for being lesbians, in your court, into jail for doing my job? Especially after everything that's happened here in front of the cameras" I smiled nastily. "You may think we're being difficult, but imagine what happens when that hits the media. I guarantee you'll have every civil rights, free speech and gay rights group in the country baying for your head and demanding to be represented in court as an interested party" I let my smile widen as I hammered my point home. "In turn every media organisation in the country will be camped out in your court, reporting everything to a live nationwide audience. Every television network will have their own judicial and gay right's experts passing commentary on every aspect of your handling of this case and digging into your past track record; how long do you think that will last before the Governor starts sweating about reelection and calls the Chief Justice?" Craven started spluttering as I pressed on. "The resultant media circus will be the Simpson trial all over again"

"How dare you…" I leaned forward in my chair and smiled as I responded.

"I've been found in contempt before, this time it's for a damned good cause" He finally got himself under control enough to speak.

"I will have your license pulled, you'd never work again" I shrugged as I leaned back.

"Well, not here in California, but I'm only here on six to twelve months secondment at the moment. I could go back to New York at any time and practice there again, but honestly, I'd like to see you argue your case against me in front of a disbarment tribunal" He shook his head angrily as he spoke, contempt in his voice.

"I doubt anyone here will care what you say; you're some no one from out-of town while I am a senior judge, what do you think your chances are?" I smiled even wider as I sat back.

"Surprisingly good really, by the time you've been pulled from this case for bias, your reputation destroyed by the media and considered an embarrassment to your peers, I doubt your testimony will cut much ice" I let my smile change to a smirk and continued cutting him down. "And that's before we get to the political aspects" He frowned darkly, his voice low and angry.

"What the hell are you talking about woman?" I smiled guilelessly at him.

"If I was to talk to the Governor and offer to throw my family's financial support behind his next campaign, I'm sure he'd be interested. Of course I'd make it clear that this support is dependent on him making a very strong, very public stance against homophobia in the legal profession" He sneered at me, the ignorant fool.

"I sincerely doubt the Governor would give you the time of day" Andrea, who'd been standing there very quietly, coughed lightly once, attracting both our attention. She moved to take the other seat next to me and sat back, arms resting on the chair arms, her voice quiet and calm.

"I doubt you're fully aware of the Cabot family resources Judge. The Cabot's made their original fortunes in business in the 18th and 19th centuries, then invested that money wisely, taking positions in a number of major corporations and real estate, including a lot of real estate in Manhattan. Today the Cabot family is very conservatively worth many hundreds of millions and DDA Cabot here is the sole beneficiary of that wealth" Craven was silent as he took it in, I didn't realise Andrea had been looking into my background, I sure as hell hadn't told anyone how much my family was worth. Before either of us could say anything, Andrea continued on.

"In addition, I have no doubt that Maura Isles would do everything in her power to assist one of her closest friends and the woman who is prosecuting the people who planned the murder of her, her fiancée and her best friends. The Isles family, of which Doctor Isles is also the only heir, is not quite as wealthy as the Cabot's however the difference is only one of small degree. Together they could easily provide many tens of millions to support the governor's next campaign, something that would buy a lot of favour" She shrugged and sat back. "Really, the next step is up to you"

Craven looked from her to me and back again, over and over as we sat there and let him stew. He'd got himself into this mess thanks to his own stupidity, now he had an opportunity to get himself out again, if he was smart enough to take it. Instead he looked at me and spoke; his voice bitter.

"I could break you" I shrugged at his threat and smiled as coldly as I could, something I let filter into to my voice.

"You could try" He stared at me for a few seconds then finally waved at us both.

"Get out" We got.

Two minutes later, Craven having not returned, the court officer announced an early recess and a day's break, given it was Thursday we'd reconvene first thing Monday morning.

 **New York Daily Mirror**

Andrea's viewpoint

I was eating a very late lunch and watching the aftermath of this morning's explosive and abruptly truncated session of the trial in LA when my cell rang. I noted it was Miranda's number and picked it up with a smile.

"Hi Miranda" Her voice was pure outrage.

"Andrea, that man is beyond the pale" I smiled a little wider, it seems Miranda had jumped on board the anti-Peterson, anti-Cox train. "How dare he?" I could tell she was seething at his behavior; something I was in complete agreement with.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad"

"Bad? You are truly a master of understatement Andrea. That man's conduct is quite simply reprehensible" she said, the crackling anger easily heard in her voice.

"I know" In nodded in agreement, I'd been surprised with how far it had gone. "Today was about par for the course for his behavior right throughout the trial" My words seemed to only stir Miranda up even more.

"Andrea, how can that man get away with such blatant and quite frankly horrid discrimination?" she asked, unconsciously drawing a shrug as I replied.

"Well the judge is supposed to pull him up about it but that doesn't seem to be happening" That just further stoked Miranda's fires.

"Do NOT get me started on that misogynistic buffoon Andrea, that man is a disgrace to the legal profession"

"He's letting a lot slide" I sighed then pushed on. "I had a chat to both our legal writer and the Mirror's general counsel and they both agree he's letting Petersen and the others get away with murder, but as a judge he sets the tone for what happens in his court" That didn't go down well.

"Surely there's something someone can do, the actions of that lawyer are despicable" Unconsciously I nodded in agreement with her comment.

"No argument from me there" I said. "But the only people who can influence the judge's behavior are the California Attorney General and he reports to the Governor, they're both politicians so it'll have to be public opinion that drives anything" There was silence on the other end, Miranda didn't like being told there was nothing she could do about something she felt passionate about. Finally she spoke, her unhappiness palpable.

"That is really quite unacceptable" I smiled as I replied, pushing the conversation in the direction I wanted.

"Well, it's up to the media to shape opinion and I gather some of the more liberal media are already starting to raise questions" Her aggrieved response was instant.

"As well they should!" That gave me the opening I'd been looking for.

"Well, you do have that women in law enforcement article all set to go..." Her answer was quick.

"I had scheduled that article for next month's issue" I smiled to myself, she hadn't said no...

"If it appeared this month it'd be very topical and topical sells" I could practically hear the wheels turning inside Miranda's head, after all she hadn't got to where she was, nor stayed there for well over a decade by not delivering what the readers wanted. Finally she spoke, her voice doubtful.

"It would take significant work to redo the whole magazine to feature that article" I scoffed audibly at that.

"This from the woman who as I recall threw out three articles less than 48 hours before printing because they didn't fit the Zeitgeist?" I pushed out a laugh. "Right" She was slightly defensive at that.

"That was completely different; I'd just seen the first images from the Shanghai show and knew it was important"

"And this isn't?" I paused then pushed on. "Runway's key target demographic is professional, educated women, what do you think the average member of your target demographic is thinking about the trial right now, and I can assure you, they are watching and thinking about it" She was silent for a second then spoke, her voice musing.

"It certainly would be timely" I inwardly smiled, nodded and gave her a push.

"Probably get some extra media attention given several people in the trial are featured in the article, and who said any publicity for Runway is good publicity?" Her voice carried slight tones of annoyance as I tossed her own words back at her.

"Yes, darling, I know, but I am not sure if it would be worth the significant work necessary to make next Monday's release date" I wasn't above a little shameless pleading, all in the name of a good cause.

"Please Miranda, this is very important" She was silent for a good fifteen seconds, I could imagine her staring out the window, thinking it through so I gave her time, after all silence could be a goad as well. Finally her voice came through, a little reflective.

"I suppose anything is possible" My smile widened.

"I'd be very grateful Miranda" Miranda's voice was suddenly playful.

"Oh really now, and exactly how grateful is that?" I let my voice drop in register, knowing how much she liked that.

"Very, very grateful" the satisfaction in her voice was unmistakable.

"Then I will look forward to you providing a small demonstration of that gratitude this evening shall I?" My smile changed to a grin as I let my voice get a little lower, a little throaty.

"You can count on it my love"

"Oh Andrea, I can assure you I am" I felt a small thrill running through me at the thought before she spoke again. "I must go, I have a few art directors to reduce to gibbering wrecks" I chuckled at that.

"Which you will enjoy no end I'm sure" Miranda's smile could be heard in her voice.

"Almost as much as tonight I would expect" I grinned happily as I spoke, knowing she'd hear it in my voice.

"Bye Miranda"

"Goodbye Andrea" I put the phone down and smiled to myself in pleased anticipation as I contemplated tonight's activities.

Unknown to me, in a lavish office on the other side of Central Park a blonde woman put down her phone with an identical smile before looking up and calling out the door.

"Emily! Clear my schedule this afternoon and call in all of the editorial and artistic directors, we have a magazine to rebuild"

 **Los Angeles**

Alex's viewpoint

That night's news was full of the 'hate crimes' angle to the story, with the experts and the talking heads generally backing us over Craven, a few of the more liberal media outlets like the Huffington Post were already talking about Craven's decisions from the bench, highlighting his long-term opposition to gay marriage, abortion, women's rights and other social issues. They were the first organisation to call for him to step down, but they wouldn't be the last.

Sitting there, watching the news and nursing a wine while Olivia was on the phone arranging a home delivery dinner I came to a decision regarding Natalie. She'd been champing at the bit ever since the prosecution's tactics had become obvious and had been uncharacteristically cold and bitterly angry since the attack on Ana.

It was time to let Nat off the leash.


	7. Chapter 7

**Intersecting Lines – The Trial**

 **Part 07 – Dissecting a Doctor**

 **Los Angeles**

Alex's viewpoint

I'd come to a revelation; Natalie was beyond dangerous when she was truly, utterly pissed.

Let off the leash, over the weekend she'd rapidly turned the full, brutally harsh glare of the national media spotlight onto the case. She'd steered the media in the direction of the case and dropped some comments about Craven's behavior, his past case history and the like.

She'd also pointed out Peterson's previous case history, suggesting that the media look into the cases he'd taken and the tactics he'd used, something the media had taken to with gusto.

The result was front page news here in Los Angeles and major news stories across California's notoriously left-leaning media. She hadn't stopped there though, pitching the law and order side of the story to people like Fox and the right-wing talk media, ensuring media across the political spectrum and across the country were commenting on the case and Craven's mishandling of it. It was the subject _de jour_ across the country.

Basically it had turned into a massive media circus, with her as the ringmaster and Craven as the clown.

Brenda and Sharon meanwhile were fielding requests for interview from the whole gamut of media, daytime chat shows, the late night talk shows, Time magazine, 60 Minutes, women's and fashion magazines, cable networks, local and national newspapers, you name it, they all wanted to talk. Apparently this morning Katie Couric's people had called the LAPD media team, they wanted to interview Sharon and Brenda together, if they agreed, they'd make it part of an hour-long piece on women in law enforcement and the glass ceiling of expectations and harassment.

Locally the papers were running profile pieces on Brenda, mostly based on material from stories they'd done on her cases over the years though they'd approached the LAPD for interviews, something Pope was blocking, afraid of how it might look and any potential blowback on him. He'd turned down interview requests with Jane and Maura for the same reason, without that access the media had been forced to recycle stories of their history and conviction stats in Boston, none of which was doing them any harm whatsoever. Unfortunately much of what Ana had done in the past was locked away, either in the Army bureaucracy or with the Bureau and neither was talking, meaning the good work she had done was missed.

The District Attorney's office was fielding numerous calls to interview both Andrea and I; everyone wanted a piece of the story, and a piece of Craven. His reputation was sinking faster than a lead balloon; it seemed almost no one liked his handling of the case, with academics and retired judges and lawyers lining up on the talk shows seemingly hourly to denounce his behavior and decisions.

Spurred on by the media opposition politicians were using Craven's reactionary behavior to attack the Governor and the Attorney General; in 48 hours Craven had gone from a respected senior judge to a ridiculed scapegoat, the late night talk show host's monologues in particular were brutal.

"Jesus Nat…" It was Liv. "How in hell did you do it?" The woman in question shrugged modestly from where she was snuggled up against Ana on a couch at our place as we unwound on Sunday night and spoke up.

"Wasn't all that hard, Brenda, Sharon and Maura already had a local media profile so lots of media people were aware who they were, building on what people had already seen in the trial. I just contacted media that were inclined to be sympathetic to the story anyway and that started the ball rolling, once they were talking about it, the social media people jumped all over it and the story became something the rest of the media couldn't ignore, they all watch what each other are talking about so pretty soon it became the story of the day" Looking round at the rest of us she continued. "The LGBT community has its own ins with the media and they were already pushing that barrow hard, so it gathered momentum, they in turn got a lot of Hollywood talking and tweeting about the issue and that gave the story legs" I nodded, the hash tag _#cravencoward_ had been getting a hell of a workout already. She shrugged. "Plus I was motivated as hell" At Nat's comment Ana smiled gently and placed a soft kiss to her head, getting a happy little snuggle back from Nat as I smiled.

"So what happens now?" It was Jane speaking from where she was cuddled with Maura. I looked over and shrugged.

"I'm having a meeting with the Governor's Chief of Staff tomorrow after court" I recalled that morning's conversation, it had come right out of the blue and was totally unexpected but I had my suspicions, it had to be something very, very political. "She rang me this morning and asked to talk, so we'll see what happens" Liv looked up at me from where my feet were resting in her lap, getting a divine massage on the insteps, all that strength of hers being put to excellent use.

"You have more knowledge of politics than I do Angel, what do you think she wants?" I shrugged.

"She could be calling me in to tell me to stop making waves, back off in court and let things settle" I shook my head. "Not likely though, not with all the media attention that's focused on it now, if that leaked it'd end up with them looking like they supported Craven's behavior, something that'd be electoral suicide in San Francisco and parts of LA in particular" I tipped my head in acknowledgement of Nat's hard work, getting a small smile back. "Plus if I was being carpeted they'd do it with Andrea and my boss, Graham Annesley present. That makes me think it's not that" I shrugged. "Besides the Governor couldn't handle the media backlash if that got out that he was seen to sympathise with a bigoted judge, so more likely he's looking for some way to turn this to his benefit"

"How?" it was Ana. I looked over at her.

"Potentially he's seeking my endorsement for his next run, in return for reigning in Craven" Jane nodded.

"Makes sense" I pulled a face.

"There are a few others, some more interesting than others" I got a couple of curious looks so I kept going. "He could be sounding me out to financially support him in return for his support against Craven, maybe even up to pulling Craven from the case"

"You think he'd do that?" It was Jane, backed up by Maura.

"Would that not mean the trial would have to dismissed and run again with a new judge?" I nodded.

"Yes, so I doubt that's likely, it's probably something else, though one option is a bit farfetched but possible" Nat nodded slowly like she could see where this was going.

"Go on" she said. I looked a little sheepish.

"He could ask me to run for Los Angeles County District Attorney" That got an immediate reaction.

"You're joking?" It was Ana.

"Seriously?" asked Jane as Maura backed her up

"Why on earth would he offer you that alternative Alexandria?" Liv was frowning.

"Would you be interested in it Angel, in politics I mean?" I shrugged.

"I don't think it's likely, but it is possible" Nat nodded.

"I could see it actually; it would play well in parts of LA, plus help paint the Governor in a good light as tolerant and progressive"

"But Al's only just arrived; the Governor doesn't know anything about her" At Jane's words Liv's frown changed to a thoughtful look.

"He could have looked her up; god knows Alex's record as a prosecutor is public, plus there's the coverage of the trial here, which can't have hurt" I nodded and looked at Jane.

"As for not knowing me, he's a politician, all he cares about is that I help get him elected and avoid scandal once he is" I shrugged. "It's all supposition, it's probably something a lot more mundane, like asking me for support in return for reigning in Craven" Liv looked at me.

"Would you be willing to do that?" I smiled happily.

"To screw Craven over, god yes, in a heartbeat"

That was something we could all get on board with.

 **In Court**

Maura was on the stand and Andrea was walking her through the forensics. I'd lost this morning's toss and was on laptop-driving duty.

"Doctor Isles, could you please walk us through the evidence you had determined contradicted the accounts given for the fatal shooting of Robert Dimery by Kennedy and Powell" At Andrea's question Maura nodded.

"Of course" She leaned forward slightly. "The OIS report witnesses statements from then-detective's Kennedy and Powell stated that the deceased, Robert Dimery, had drawn a pistol on them and that they had been forced to fire in self defence" Andrea nodded as Maura continued. "When I examined the forensic evidence again however I determined that the shots that struck Mister Dimery were not consistent with the descriptions given in their statements"

"How so Doctor?" Andrea asked.

"The statements from then-detectives Kennedy and Powell stated that Mister Dimery attempted to raise a pistol to shoot them, forcing them to fire first. Upon examining the forensic evidence it became apparent that the victim's wounds did not match the statements"

"Could you guide us through your conclusions Doctor?" At Andrea's question Maura nodded as I flipped images, revealing a torso photographed from the front and back, rods projecting from bullet wounds to show the bullets passage.

"The first shot penetrated through the victim's chest cavity and the myogenic muscular organ, passing from the left ventricle through the main cardiac muscle mass, exiting through the right atrium and passing through the upper left lung before exiting the chest cavity"

 **Boston Medical Examiner's Office**

In the basement of Boston's Police Headquarters building Suzie Chang and her team were watching raptly on a portable television at lunchtime, they'd been following the trial as best they could despite the sour attitude of Maura's replacement.

Speaking of which Suzie looked up from where Doctor Isles was testifying as she caught movement from the corner of her eye, seeing Doctor Pike pause in his walk past, eyeing the coverage on the screen. Realising he'd been seen Pike started walking again, his grumpy demeanour departing with it much to Suzie's relief, as she turned back to see Maura answering another question.

 **In Court**

"Passing through the heart, that would have been fatal, right?" Andrea asked, getting a nod and an answer in return.

"Almost instantly, given the damage and the shock trauma caused by the bullet passing through the chamber, termination of life would have followed within scant seconds at most" Andrea nodded and prompted her.

"Please go on"

"The trajectory suggested that the wound was received as the victim was either turned away from the shooter and crouched down, lying almost prone or the shooter was very close to the ground, something that was not mentioned in either OIS statement" Andrea nodded.

"Those however were not the only shots to hit the victim were they Doctor?" Maura shook her head as I flipped to the next image, this time the body had two different sets of rods projecting through it, both at shallower angles.

"The second and third shots were fired, as can be seen, from the front and the angle suggests that the trajectory was slightly low entering the chest cavity with the exit wounds slightly higher at the rear, suggesting that the victim was slumped against a wall or falling when the additional shots were made" Andrea nodded.

"So the first shot was fatal, with the following two delivered afterwards?"

"That is the most likely proposition, the bullets recovered from the walls support that hypothesis, with one in the wall and the other two much lower, one in the floor and the second in the wall barely an inch above the floor"

"Objection!" Craven, Maura and Andrea all turned to look at Cox.

"Yes Defence?" Craven asked as Cox waved towards the screen.

"How can the witness determine which shot penetrated the victim in which sequence, given there were no alternative witnesses?" Craven looked to Maura who nodded.

"For the fatal shot to have been fired while the victim was on the ground, the shooter would have had to be standing over them when they fired, something that did not tally with the bullet impacts" She shrugged gently. "For the two other shots to have been fired high enough to pass through the victim and into the higher position on the wall, the victim would have had to be close to horizontal, over four feet up in the air" Maura looked to Cox and smiled politely. "Neither option was considered likely, especially when compared to the statements provided by the defendant's, Kennedy and Powell, to the Officer Involved Shooting investigation" She smiled. "Nor did they match up with analysis of the blood spatter as each bullet exited the victim, which I will be explaining shortly" Craven nodded once and spoke.

"Continue"

 **Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office**

Kate Murphy and her top Medical Examiner, Megan Hunt, stood side by side in the main autopsy room, watching the trial on a television in the corner. They exchanged a glance at Maura Isles' comment as Megan nodded.

"A reasonable conclusion" She looked up at her taller boss. "Mind you Maura was always good at the forensic analysis side of the job" Kate looked at her, surprised.

"You know her?" Megan nodded and smiled in reflection.

"Attended a few conferences where we've met up, I've asked for her opinion a few times on the odd case, she's got a great reputation as a consulting specialist" Megan shrugged, her eyes on the screen. "I know quite a few labs across the country call her for a consult on interesting or difficult cases" Kate raised an eyebrow at that little tidbit.

"I did…not know that" Megan looked to her and smiled.

"Usually I send her my notes and she looks them over, I ask her to poke holes in my conclusions, sometimes she suggests an alternative possibility, other times she agrees with mine" Her smile widened. "I heard she'd relocated to LA from Boston, what I didn't know was that she was involved with one of her detectives, I'm not at all surprised though" Kate found that very interesting indeed and turned to look at her.

"Oh, how come?" Megan looked up at Kate and gave her a slightly wistful smile as she answered.

"Maura's a nice person, a bit reserved around strangers but once you get to know her she's really lovely. We were out having dinner one night at a convention in Houston about eighteen months ago and the phone rang; it was a detective back in Boston, calling socially. The look on her face transformed, she was happy, laughing and joking, even after the call ended she was so happy her friend had called. I asked a few questions and she happily told me about her friend, a homicide detective in Boston named Jane Rizzoli" Kate's eyes widened, she recalled the striking detective who had given testimony earlier in the trial.

"That's the same one…" Megan nodded.

"Yes, it seems they've moved from friends to lovers, given how much Jane obviously meant to her, and from what I heard from my side of the conversation, how much Maura meant to Jane, I'd say it was pretty inevitable" She looked back to the screen and smiled softly. "I'm just happy she's happy"

Kate nodded, you couldn't argue with that.

 **In Court**

"The statements of both defendants did not match up with the forensic evidence did it?" At Andrea's question Maura shook her head then answered.

"No, both of the former officers statements claimed the victim attempted to fire upon them with a pistol, however for the victim to do so he would have had to capable of firing through their body" Seeing the jury's confusion she continued. "Examination of the victim revealed that they were right handed, however the shot came in from their left rear, placing the victim's body between their assailant and the claimed pistol" Andrea nodded in understanding.

"Preventing Dimery from firing on Kennedy and Powell as they claimed?" Maura smiled and nodded.

"That is correct, reading the officers' statements it read as though Mister Dimery had his weapon in hand, but both officers were able to draw and fire their weapons before the victim could fire, despite apparently having his weapon in hand and menacing them" Andrea glanced at the jury.

"Unlikely wouldn't you think?"

"Making it exceptionally unlikely at best" Maura said then continued. "There was also no gunpowder residue on the victim's hands nor a bullet impact found anywhere else in the apartment, making the scenario both defendants claimed occurred well-nigh impossible""

Andrea nodded slowly then smiled at Maura as she summed it up for the jury.

"So, in summary, the victim was shot while turned away from these officer's guns and couldn't have got a shot off as the shot from the defendants killed them instantly before they could have fired, would that be an accurate summation Doctor" Maura nodded once.

"Based on the evidence gleaned from the autopsy and the forensic evidence, that is correct"

 **Washington DC The Jeffersonian Institute**

In her office in the Jeffersonian Institute Medico-Legal Lab, Doctor Temperance Brennan sat back, eyes fixed on the screen in front of her as she watched Maura Isles walk the court through her forensic evidence. Though they'd not met in person, they'd spoken a few times on the phone and corresponded on cases where they'd each reached out for a second opinion on a case's specifics.

While Brennan was a forensic anthropologist without peer, she recognised Isles as a leading forensics specialist and an expert in multiple fields. While not as academically recognised as herself Brennan knew that was because Isles simply wasn't interested, she enjoyed her work rather more than academia, a choice Brennan hadn't understood until she'd discovered that the attractive medical examiner and the striking Italian detective who'd testified earlier in the trial were in a relationship.

Now though she listened to Isles' testimony and watched the images the Defence were revealing; it was effective and in combination with the testimony she found Isles' conclusions to be more than sound.

 **In Court**

After Andrea had finished with Maura's testimony for Dimery's forensics, I had taken over to walk her though the attempted attack on her on the drive home after work, something that Peterson and the others couldn't really find anything to object to.

After lunch Andrea had taken over once more to get Maura to explain what she had seen and done during the ambush on the streets, given it was essentially factual the Defence hadn't done much. That had left me to finish with her analysis of the forensics for the two women Humphries had murdered, once again the Defence were quiet, making me worried. Given their track record they were planning something, I just didn't know what.

We'd finished with Maura's testimony and somewhat trepidatiously handed her over to Ling for the cross, given previous experience we were expecting the worst; unfortunately we got it. Ling had basically ignored the forensics evidence, instead taking another tack entirely.

"Doctor Isles, you have not been in Los Angeles all that long, having transferred here from Boston?" Maura nodded politely as she answered.

"That is correct, I came to Los Angeles to undertake a six-month secondment, eventually permanently transferring into the role" Ling nodded.

"I understand that your application was supported by a number of recommendations, including that of both Commander Raydor and Deputy Chief Johnson, is that correct?" Maura nodded carefully as she replied.

"Amongst a number of others yes" Ling nodded theatrically from where she was holding court in the middle of the open space between jury and witness.

"And that you are close friends with them both, would you characterize that as that correct?"

"I am honoured to consider them my friends" At Maura's response Ling tipped her head as she spoke.

"Was this some sort of lesbian solidarity thing?" I glanced at Andrea but she was staring at Ling, poised to leap in as Maura looked puzzled, something her voice conveyed.

"I beg your pardon?" Ling smiled; all cheery fakeness.

"I asked if this was some lesbian thing Miss Isles, I mean you're close friends with Raydor and Johnson, both lesbians, with Agent Romanov and her lover, the LAPD's media woman Dearing, you supported your friend Alex Cabot here in her move out to LA, together with her paramour Sergeant Olivia Benson, plus you're also friends with Andrea Hobbs here and her partner, Detective Mendoza. Quite the lesbian coven you have going here"

"Objection!" I was on my feet before I realised it. "Your Honour, what exactly does a medical examiner's friendship with her work colleagues have to do with a trial where the defendants were recorded agreeing a price for the murder of law enforcement personnel?" Craven looked to Ling who shrugged.

"Your Honour, if you would be kind enough to ask the Prosecution to stop attempting to taint the jury's perceptions…" Craven nodded and shot me a baleful glance which I happily ignored as Ling continued. "Doctor Isles is involved in a lesbian relationship with one of the detectives investigating this case, Detective Rizzoli, and very close friends with the other members of the team who brought these unwarranted charges against our clients. I am simply making those relationships clear to the court" Craven looked back to me but I butted in before he could speak.

"By implying some inappropriate relationship, let alone calling them a coven of all things" I shook my head and looked to Craven. "Your Honour, when did a friendship between work colleagues become a reason for a witness's testimony to be called into question? That would be like denigrating the testimony of a number of heterosexual detectives because they socialise after hours and enjoy each other's company" I looked back to Ling and shook my head theatrically. "Obviously Defence either doesn't understand or doesn't want to understand how valuable good working relationships between colleagues are" Ling shot me a hooded glance then looked to Craven.

"The prosecution has brought a case against our clients that relies on the testimony of a number of women who are close personal friends, so close in fact that in addition to their work time together they spend much of their free time in each other's company, from socialising at each other's houses to nights out together, their lives are so closely entwined that it raises the questions of just how independent they actually are, which in turn raises questions regarding their impartiality and even their probity" I spun to face her, my eyes widening in shock.

"Excuse me? What exactly are you implying?" She smiled at me then turned and addressed Craven and the jury.

"Given how close these women all are, it raises questions about their fitness to give evidence here. I mean Raydor and Johnson acted out of a desire to protect each other's lesbian lover, perhaps the same aspect was in play here" She gave a slow, lascivious smile. "After all who, except this group of 'incredibly close' women…" She put it in quotes. "…can be sure of how close they actually are"

I felt my jaw drop, was she actually suggesting...Andrea stood quickly to join the discussion.

"Objection Your Honour, Defence is attempting to smear not just the witnesses, but the Prosecution as well, with baseless accusations of inappropriate behavior" I stared at Ling and narrowed my eyes as I spoke, my voice full of contempt.

"Maybe they've only now woken up to the fact their clients are guilty as sin and have decided that their only tactic is to fling muck in the hopes of obscuring the fact their clients are murderers and they have nothing else to use" Craven banged his gavel.

"Enough! Prosecution will be seated. Defence, are you suggesting that there is some sort of relationship taking place here between the female members of the investigation and the prosecution team?" Ling shrugged innocently.

"Just that their friendship seemed unnaturally close, calling into question their impartiality as dispassionate witnesses Your Honour…" she shrugged then continued. "I mean they socialise together, frequent lesbian nightclubs together, spend all their time together, at work and otherwise, it does raise questions…" I stood, ignoring Andrea, angry beyond measure.

"It would seem that Miss Ling here hasn't the slightest idea of the behavior of friends" I turned my head to stare at her as I spoke, my voice carrying the contempt I felt, for once I didn't even try and hide it. "I pity the despicably miserable existence she must lead if this is what she believes friendship is. Perhaps instead of attacking people on the basis of their friendship she should actually try and learn something about the lifestyle of the people she is denigrating, before she makes herself look like an even bigger fool" Craven banged his gavel again.

"Prosecuting Counsel will be seated" He looked to Ling. "Are you openly suggesting inappropriate relationships between those women who investigated or are prosecuting this case?"

"I am not in a position to prove anything Your Honour, just pointing out the unnatural closeness of the prosecution and investigative team's lesbian members" Andrea just beat me to it.

"Objection Your Honour, I object to the statement that friendship is unnatural, in particular when applied to the Prosecution team and our friends, and would ask you to have the Defence counsel withdraw the remarks" Craven frowned for a moment, finally speaking.

"Prosecution will withdraw the term unnatural. No matter your own personal beliefs, the nature of the friendship between these women is not illegal and cannot be characterised as unnatural, no matter their personal sexual…habits" Andrea and I looked to each other, aghast at what he was suggesting before I turned and went to speak but Craven rapped his gavel.

"Prosecution will return to their seats and let Defence continue to cross examine the witness" The anger that the mocking smile Ling shot me generated was only exceeded by the sick feeling of despair as I realised that Craven didn't give a fuck about appearing like the bigoted old bastard he was. Ling turned back to Maura who had been sitting there quietly as we argued and smiled.

"Now then Miss Isles, let's talk about your…interestingly close… relationship with the investigating officers"

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

"Oh my god" Rick Castle looked up at his partner. "That's…unbelievable" Kate nodded, equally stunned.

"If either Ling or Craven turn up dead tonight, it won't be for lack of suspects" Rick grimaced as he spoke.

"With Jane, Liv and Ana at the top of the list" Kate frowned.

"If one of the others doesn't get them first" She shook her head in disbelief. "I cannot believe how he's behaving" Rick nodded slowly as he replied.

"That judge just about openly agreed with that Ling woman that they were all sleeping together" He looked to Kate. "I know they're close, but that's beyond insulting" Kate shot him a rueful look.

"The media is going to go nuts about this"

 **Los Angeles**

"The media's gone nuts" I looked up to see Jane scanning the media on my tablet. She looked up and shook her head. "They've got shots of us at one of the little black dress nights" She turned it round to show Natalie, Anastasia, Mikki and Andrea standing together with Jane and myself outside the club, we all looked happy and gorgeous, and best of all not too risqué.

"I am remarkably relieved that was not at a Club Night at the Intersection, can you imagine the images?" I paused for a moment then continued on as a thought hit me. "Or the captions?" Jane nodded ruefully.

"The text just says we've been regular features at some of LA's lesbian bars since arriving, there's nothing too nasty here and no one's gone on the record" She pulled a face. "I wonder if the club's clients aren't cooperating on an obvious anti-lesbian hit piece" I thought about that for a few seconds.

"If so we are extremely fortunate"

 **Los Angeles** **Palihouse Hotel**

I was glad the day was over. We'd tried to fight some of the muck Peterson and his crew had been throwing but it was obvious that the Defence had worked out how far they could push things under Craven, which was pretty damned far. It had been a long and exhausting session before we'd wrapped up.

Now though I had work of a different kind to attend to. The Governor's chief of staff, well Executive Secretary was what she was called out here but her job was the same, was a woman named Nancy Souza, I'd done some homework and she'd been with him for years, as well as serving in a number of roles at both Federal and state level, she was part politician, part bureaucrat and firmly located in the centre of California political power. She'd apparently flown down from Sacramento for the meeting; in person she was polite, no-nonsense and straight to the point. We'd barely been seated and had our drinks delivered before she jumped right in.

"Ms Cabot, the Governor has followed the details of the trial you are prosecuting with interest" I nodded once as I replied.

"I'm pleased to hear it Ms Souza, has the Governor formed an opinion on the trial?" I smiled and gave her an opening. "And the way in which it is being conducted?"

She looked at me over her wine glass as we sat in the West Hollywood Palihouse Hotel's Mardi restaurant, taking advantage of the mid-week evening quiet to talk. Off in one corner I saw her security man trying to be unobtrusive, while Liv was doing a better job of it over near the door. Carefully placing her glass back of the table Souza nodded and started.

"Yes, the conduct of the trial has not been all that the people of California might have come to expect from our judicial branch" By which she meant it was causing her boss headaches. I nodded slowly, giving the appearance of thinking over what she'd said before replying.

"I can understand that, given the vile attacks on a number of participants in this trial on the basis of their sexuality" I sat back as I applied some pressure. "And given the escalation we witnessed this afternoon what exactly does the administration propose to do about it?" I tossed that out and waited to see what she did with it.

"The Governor has been in discussion with the Attorney General. The AG is of the opinion that intervening in the trial and dismissing Judge Craven, as some in the media have called for, would be counterproductive" I nodded to be agreeable.

"Yes, starting the trial over again would not only cost the City of Los Angeles a large amount of money, it would also look like interference in the independence of the judiciary" She smiled.

"Exactly" Leaning forward she tapped the table. "The Governor isn't happy but there is nothing we can do overtly to replace the Judge" I nodded and made it a little easier for her.

"Covertly however…?" I got a small smile.

"Privately the Attorney General is willing to have a little chat to Judge Craven, as is the Chief Justice, subject to a number of commitments" I raised an eyebrow…' _commitments_?'

"Could you please be more specific Ms Souza?" She leaned forward as she spoke.

"If you don't mind me speaking plainly, and off the record, Ms Cabot" I smiled.

"Naturally"

"As I stated, Judge Craven's conduct is proving a headache, his conduct reflects no credit on the California judiciary" I smiled slightly as I responded.

"I'd describe it as dragging its good name through the sewer" I shrugged. "But then I'm biased, having been on the receiving end of it" She nodded.

"In addition to what has transpired in court, I'm aware that there have been…tensions that have played out away from the camera" I smiled a little wider.

"Craven's looked into having me disbarred here in California hasn't he, or having me declared in contempt to get me off the case?" I said, as Souza sat back and nodded slowly, eventually speaking.

"I take it you were aware of his proposal?" I shrugged.

"He threatened me with both last Thursday when he dragged DDA Hobbs and I into his chambers for a dressing down, so yes, I was aware"

"Rest assured neither the Governor nor the Chief Justice would support such measures" I nodded, tossing a little more fuel on the fire.

"I'm pleased to hear it, after all I'm equally sure neither would want this mess to end up splashed across the national media for a few more weeks" She nodded once.

"Exactly, so Judge Craven will be 'advised' that his conduct in this case has been…less than acceptable, an improvement in his attitude, particularly with regard to sexual orientation is expected and that in addition any attempt to punish you for simply doing your job, would also have adverse consequences" I nodded, it sounded good but Souza was a politician's right hand woman and a skilled politician in her own right, she'd want a quid pro quo.

"And in return for Craven being reminded of his obligations to act like a judge, not a nasty old homophobic bigot, you would ask for…" I let it trail off and as expected Souza went straight to the point.

"In return for that, we have several requests" She ticked off her index finger. "The first is that, when both the Governor and the Chief Justice make strong statements against discrimination, particularly sexual discrimination in the coming days, you publically endorse their comments to the media that will be calling you for comment" I nodded, it was what I'd expected and I'd be happy to.

"That's understandable and acceptable" At that Souza nodded and ticked off her middle finger as she continued.

"Secondly, we want you to turn off the hostile media" She shrugged. "They've done their job, all too well in fact. We will act and in return you call off your PR agency" I nodded as I mentally congratulated Nat on a job well done.

"I will speak to my media person, I can ask them to refrain from stirring the pot any further, but as you're aware, Craven's brought much of it down on himself, a lot of the civil liberties organisations, LGBT activists and celebrities who have driven this story have done so off their own bat and will continue to do so, especially given his performance this afternoon" She nodded as I shrugged. "While they can highlight the Governor's and Chief Justice's strong public statements against discrimination, it'll have to be Craven changing his tune that calms them down, not us" She sat back and regarded me coolly for a moment.

"If I have your agreement then that will have to do" I nodded.

"I'll ask her to do as agreed" Souza nodded.

"Finally, as you may or may not be aware, given you are not a native of California…" She shot me an apologetic look. "The Governor is not eligible to run again for governor, similar to the Presidency he can only serve two consecutive terms" I nodded; I could see where this was going but better to have her ask than me volunteer.

"Yes?" She looked at me across the table and leaned forward.

"We would seek your support for his nominated candidate to succeed him" I nodded slowly then spoke.

"And that support would take the form of…" She leaned forward as she spoke.

"Public endorsement, participation at a few major campaign events and other support as appropriate" I frowned at that then proceeded to lay out my misgivings.

"Forgive me Ms Souza, but there's a number of assumptions there" I leaned forward. "The biggest one being that I will even be here in California at the next election. As you are no doubt aware, I am on secondment here from New York" She nodded.

"Yes, together with your partner, that attractive woman sitting over by the door drinking coffee and discretely eyeballing everyone in the room" She smiled at my slightly surprised reaction before continuing. "I understand that you have close friends living here in Los Angeles, and that there is a possibility that you would stay in LA should the opportunity present itself" I sat back and regarded her for a long moment, finally replying.

"That's possible, but I've only just arrived, so nothing's been suggested yet" She smiled confidently.

"I understand that Deputy Chief Johnson has high regard for your partner and would not be averse to her transferring permanently into the LAPD Major Crime's team" I sat back and regarded her though narrowed eyes.

"You are well informed" She played it off with a wave and a smile.

"I have my sources. I also understand that having your partner offered a role in LA would clash with your necessity to return to New York when your secondment finishes, therefore I can assure you that should you wish to remain close to your friends a permanent position here in LA with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office could be arranged"

I nodded, seeing an exercise in raw power playing out in front of me. Obviously my endorsement alone wasn't enough to secure her pulling strings; I was pretty sure where this was leading, time to put her on the spot.

"That is a generous offer Ms Souza. One I would have to take under advisement. It is so generous that I would wonder why you would be prepared to offer it, unless you are hoping to secure something more from me" She tipped her head to regard me for a moment then nodded.

"Well, as you mention it, there is the chance that an opportunity to become a major supporter of the next Governor's campaign would be available" She smiled. "Support that would ensure further consideration for you in the future" I nodded.

"You seem very confident that your, as yet unelected, candidate will be in a position to deliver" She sat back and smiled confidently.

"This is California Ms Cabot; the Governor's successor will receive the Governor's blessing as his appointed heir, which will provide a significant boost to their chances" I raised an eyebrow as I replied.

"Then why do you need me and my support?" At my questions she shrugged and shifted slightly in her seat before replying.

"Politics right now is in upheaval, as we've seen in Washington, an upset can never be completely discounted, I believe that your support will be a factor in ensuring that such an upset doesn't happen" I knew what she wanted, financial support, enough to buy ads and editorial space and support staff and a winning campaign. I made a show of thinking it over as I sipped my wine before finally speaking.

"And such support would in turn buy support?" She looked at me through narrowed eyes, finally she spoke.

"As I stated, your position here in Los Angeles would be assured" I shook my head.

"Ms Souza, we both know that you were prepared to offer that to make your media issues go away, it costs you almost nothing to do so" I sat back as I continued. "The Chief Justice or the Attorney General makes a comment to the District Attorney here about the good work I'm doing and how it would be a shame to see me lost back to New York; Graham Annesley isn't stupid, he'd get the message loud and clear" I smiled at her. "If you are seeking my support and commitment to the Governor's campaign then I would have a few requests of my own" She lost the smile and leaned forward, all business.

"And they would be?" I sat back; time to let her know who had the upper hand here.

"In return for a significant level of financial support to the Governor's campaign, I have two requests. The first is Governor Brown's endorsement of me as the next Los Angeles County District Attorney at the next election, backed by the incoming governor" Souza leaned back and frowned.

"I'm not sure that's doable" she said. "Annesley is popular and was supported by the Governor at the last election" I shrugged at her words, unconcerned.

"As you have pointed out, there will be a new governor by the time the next election for DA rolls around, so a changed endorsement isn't that big a deal, in fact it would be one way to show that a new broom is sweeping in changes" I smiled at her nonplussed expression and pushed on. "This way the Governor would get to support a woman, a gay woman, for the role, one who had not only successfully prosecuted a high-profile case involving corrupt cops but did so in the face of judicial bigotry" I sipped my wine, giving her a moment to take in what I was asking, before rolling the glass between my palms as I pressed on.

"If I was to stay here in LA, I would be giving up any chance of running for political office in New York" I was lying, I'd already given up on that, but Souza had opened the door for me here, giving me a chance to make a real difference. "If I am to remain here, then I would pursue political office and where better than as DA here in Los Angeles?" She sat back and thought about it for a few moments as I reflected on my request.

As District Attorney for Los Angeles County I'd be responsible for ensuring that the laws were uniformly and adequately enforced and the LAPD, the LA County Sherriff's Department and all the other law enforcement organisations operating here were properly supported. I couldn't think of a better way to make a real difference out here in California. Finally Souza replied.

"I can't promise that, I'd have to take your request back to Sacramento" I nodded, I'd figured as much.

"I understand" At my comment she looked at me then spoke.

"You said two requests" I nodded. "What's the second?" I smiled, Ms Souza was about to get a lesson in politics, New York style.

"Once this case is completed, Judge Craven is to be moved off the bench, found somewhere he cannot hear cases until he retires, I don't particularly care where but somewhere he cannot taint cases with his deplorable attitude, with it to be made clear to him that he is being punished for being a vicious bigot" Souza's jaw dropped.

You're…you must be…I'm sorry…" She finally got herself coherent. "That will not be happening" She shook her head. "Judge Craven is not up for reappointment" I tipped my head to regard her for a few seconds before I spoke. Her lesson began here.

"Ms Souza, let me explain, I have caused the Mayor, the Attorney General, the Chief Justice and the Governor significant discomfort in the media across this country, all without spending a dime or actively speaking to the media or the public" I let my smile widen. "Imagine what I could do if I set my media specialists loose with a mandate to cause real trouble, backed by say, twenty or thirty million dollars and a willingness to make myself available to the media, when and wherever necessary, imagine the traction my media spoiler campaign would get" She sat back, shaking her head, in wonder or maybe bemusement I didn't know, maybe mixed in with a little fear.

"You're joking" she stated, I shook my head.

"Ms Souza, as you have quite obviously ascertained, my family's fortune is substantial, significantly so, and I am the sole beneficiary of it" I shrugged. "That sort of expenditure wouldn't even put a minor dent in it" Finished I sat back, sipping my wine as she struggled to come to grips with what I'd suggested. Finally she spoke.

"That is remarkably vindictive Ms Cabot" I shook my head once before responding.

"I don't think so actually, I haven't called for his dismissal so I think I'm being remarkably restrained, all things considered" Souza looked pained.

"But to have him shunted off to oblivion…" I smiled, as cold as I could.

"That man has allowed, no, encouraged the Defence's disgusting behavior, my close friend's names have been dragged through the mud, their reputations besmirched, our personal habits fouled and he has generally behaved like some fossil from the dark ages of the 1950s. I wish him to pay for that unacceptable behavior" She pursed her lips as she regarded me for a few seconds before speaking.

"You think that you could fight the Governor on this? That's unlikely, no matter your resources" I sat back and smiled politely even as I thanked my father for the years of discussions and lessons in New York's politics as I grew up. He'd wanted me to enter politics and had been grooming me to do so for years, I'd figuratively sat at his feet and learned the brutal lessons of power politics since I was a young girl and while this wasn't New York's political stage as he'd envisioned I was now putting all those lessons into play here.

"Perhaps, perhaps not, but you have a binary choice here. I could be part of the new Governor's team, new faces, new ideas and a clean break with the past that could be sold to the voters. Or I could be a disruptor" I smiled a little wider. "If you will pardon the use of an exceptionally vulgar political analogy that fits particularly well here; better to have someone inside the tent pissing out, than outside the tent, pissing in" She nodded slowly, either at the analogy or the sentiment I didn't know..

"And if you were inside the tent, so to speak, that would include your considerable resources?" I nodded.

"At the campaign's disposal" She nodded as I buried a smile. I'd offered her a powerful ally if they were wise enough to take it, while holding out the potential of causing them no end of problems if they didn't, and all they had to do was sideline Craven till retirement. All in all not a bad days work if I did say so myself. Finally she nodded once as she spoke.

"We will have to give your requests appropriate consideration" I nodded.

"That is all I ask" Souza stood and held out her hand.

"If you will excuse me, I will take your proposals back to Sacramento" I nodded and stood as we shook hands.

"I look forward to Craven's attitude being adjusted" I smiled politely. "Once that is evident, I am more than willing to abide by the term of our agreement" She nodded and let go of my hand, giving me a long look.

"You seem to be someone who is not adverse to plain speaking so if I might make a personal comment Ms Cabot…?" I nodded.

"Please" She shook her head slowly.

"Please don't take this personally but I find myself wishing that you had stayed in New York" I let my smile widen into a grin.

"And miss all the fun? " With that she nodded and took her leave, security guy trailing after her as I sat back. I was reviewing what had transpired when Liv's voice came to me from my left side.

"That looked all sorts of interesting" I smiled up as at her as she bent and gave me a quick kiss.

"It had its moments" Liv grinned quickly.

"At one point I thought she'd choked on her drink" I knew exactly what part she was referring to, I stood as Liv pulled the chair back and looked to her as I replied..

"Let's say she thought she was the one making the offer and I'd be the one jumping through her hoops" I gave her a happy smile. "I was pleased to set her straight" Liv nodded, her eyes sweeping the room as we turned towards the door.

"So do you think you'll get what you want from her?" I let my smile widen, Souza wasn't dumb, I'd offered her not just a way out of the Craven mess, but the prospect of significant financial support for the next Governor's campaign; she'd have to be a fool to say no.

"Oh yes, she'll come round to my way of thinking, soon enough" Liv looked my way.

"If it means Craven behaves like a judge, not a prick, well it's not before time"

That was a sentiment I could get behind. With that we headed out to the car for the run home. I found myself in such a good mood that I skipped Liv making dinner, seducing her on the kitchen bench and making a rather satisfying meal of her myself, something I felt capped off an altogether successful evening.


	8. Chapter 8

As always, the characters here are the creation of their respective rights holders and the wonderful actors and actresses who bring them to life for us. Thanks for letting us play with them, if only for a while.

 **Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 08** **– An Alternative View**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

We'd prepared Natalie carefully for this, Andrea and I had spent most of the last two evenings at her place, being plied with Ana's sensational coffee while we ran through what we wanted her to try and get across to the jury and the audience, both in the courtroom and across the country. Fortunately we'd seen the slime Peterson and the others were throwing and Nat was our best chance to get our side of the story out.

I mean it wasn't anything she wouldn't do anyway; Nat was a wiseass and had a smart mouth at the best of times so expecting her to sit still through the sort of crap Peterson's team were likely to fling was a non-starter, not after what they'd put Ana and the rest of her friends through, in fact she was practically champing at the bit. Plus having been in the hostile media gaze for years she was used to thinking on her feet and was most likely to be unfazed by whatever Peterson and his cohorts tried to throw at her.

Given she wasn't one of the investigating officers and was there as a witness to what had occurred, it was likely that rather than trying to question her testimony the Defence's cross would be an attempt to further smear us as they had with the others. If so we hoped they were in for an unpleasant surprise.

So it was that in court this morning we'd walked her through the information she'd been privy to and a range of other testimony before we'd started to move the questioning into what she thought were the motivations of the people trying to kill her. She'd been upfront, saying as she hadn't ever met any of the accused, it could hardly be because of her sexuality, after all none of them knew her well enough to know she was gay.

That was the baited hook and Cox had leapt after it, standing to object, instead suggesting her sexual orientation was well known, both through the online forums popular with LAPD members, and her performance at the last LAPD Ball.

"Given the witness flaunted their sexual choices out in front of hundreds of members of the LAPD, at one of the Department's highest profile events, the LAPD Ball, how could they not be aware?" Cox asked rhetorically. Unfazed, Natalie chuckled slightly then spoke.

"I wasn't aware that dancing with my friends and colleagues was flaunting it Mister Cox" she said with a smile even as he pounced on that, picking up his tablet and swiping through pages before he looked up.

"You danced with Agent Romanov did you not, and Detective Rizzoli, and Chief Johnson?" Natalie nodded agreeably.

"Yes, each of them several times in fact" She tipped her head to regard him. "I also danced with the male members of the Major Crimes team, including Lieutenant's Tao, Provenza and Flynn, Sergeant Gabriel and Detective Sanchez and the team's audio visual specialist Mister Watson as well" She smiled a little widely then continued, the scorn in her words belied by the smile on her face. "Should that also be taken as signs of lesbian behaviour Mr Cox? If so I really should let them know their sexual orientation has changed to lesbian, though I think most of them were already attracted to women anyway" There was a chorus of snickers and plenty of smiles in the audience and even from one or two jury members, drawing a frown from Craven and a scowl from Cox before Andrea looked to Craven and spoke up.

"If the Defence is quite finished with their penny ante pop psychology I would like to continue with this witnesses' testimony Your Honour" Craven had nodded and told Cox to sit down, reminding him that he'd have his chance to cross examine in due course.

We'd continued walking Nat through her evidence, making sure she mentioned the tape of the suspects discussing having them killed, plus the one of the discussion between Kennedy and Hernandez about the cost for having them all murdered. Cox had objected _pro forma_ but hadn't got anywhere, Craven telling him to sit down, leaving us to get back to the task of sending his clients to death row.

We'd broken for lunch before reconvening to walk Natalie through the ambush and the arrest of Di Marco, Cox had tried to question the legality of that but the judge had shut him down when it had been explained that she was there with a detective who had actually taken Di Marco into custody. Natalie's role being basically the one telling him he was under arrest and reciting him his rights as Di Marco was arrested.

Finally we wrapped up around three and handed her over to the Defence for the cross. I was expecting Ling or Cox, but it was Peterson who stood to handle the questions, something I found interesting, as did Andrea by the raised eyebrow she shared with me. Maybe he felt that sending his attack dogs after someone who wasn't a police officer mightn't look good to the jury and the cameras, especially someone as soft-looking as Natalie, however if he thought she was going to be a pushover I hoped he was soon to be proved gravely mistaken.

In a way I was glad it was Peterson and not Ling doing the cross, Nat had taken Ling's attack on Ana really hard and **very** personally. I'd been afraid that if Ling had been the one doing the cross it would have gotten ugly very quickly, so that was one bullet dodged thank heavens.

Peterson started off polite enough but naturally it didn't last, a few establishing questions and he started in on her inclusion in the investigation.

"What exactly were you doing to be involved in this ill-starred investigation anyway? You were not a detective, I put it to you that you were involved only because you were part of the lesbian coven that Johnson and Raydor have surrounded themselves with" Natalie smiled.

"I wasn't really part of the investigation Mister Peterson; well not until I was identified as one of the people who were supposed to be killed by the hit men your clients were paying to come after my friends and I" Peterson wasn't wearing that.

"Supposedly" Nat raised her eyebrow at him and shook her head slightly as he continued. "So they brought an untrained individual into their investigation, rather than someone with actual investigative training, I put it to you that Raydor and Johnson had already made up their minds who the scapegoats they were looking for were, my clients" He turned to wave at the defendants. "Your involvement is an obvious example of how they were not looking for actual criminals, instead just going through the motions" Natalie looked to him and smiled.

"You have an interesting definition of untrained Mister Peterson. I wasn't actually carrying out the investigation, instead reviewing the information already collected by 'trained'…" she put it in finger quotes. "…detectives" Peterson pounced on that.

"Something that you had no qualifications for" Natalie shrugged.

"I'd like to think that a number of years as a journalist had given me the ability to review information and draw out relevant information"

"A job for the police, not a journalist"

"I think Woodward and Bernstein might disagree with you there Mister Peterson, and while I'm not a patch on either of those two legends, I can read documents and notice disparities just as well as the next person"

"An investigation no civilian should be involved with" At Peterson's barb Natalie just shrugged as she replied.

"I signed the Department's legal undertakings and non-disclosure agreements Mister Peterson; as such I was cleared to see the documents I was reading" He wasn't having a bar of it.

"But you were not a detective, as a civilian you should have had no role in the investigation" Surprisingly Nat smiled.

"I suppose you could see it that way, I wasn't a detective, simply someone helping out" Peterson pounced on that.

"So you agree that your presence was more about Johnson and Raydor keeping their lesbian associates involved in this whitewash?" Natalie shook her head.

"As I understand it that wasn't the main reason I was involved" She smiled sweetly. "It meant I got to assist their investigation and it also meant that I was safe from the potential attempts on my life orchestrated by your clients" Peterson was dismissive.

"So you say, but it looks rather like another case of this lesbian cabal we've heard so much about…" Natalie wasn't wearing that one.

"Something that you've spoken so much about Mister Peterson, but before this trial I'd never even heard the term" Peterson batted her objections away.

"Your actions as an incredibly close group of lesbians, practically living intertwined in each other's lives leads to that conclusion" Natalie shook her head slowly then replied, her tone just a little condescending.

"Mister Peterson, making a lot of noise about something doesn't mean it's true. The flat earth people, the Area 51 conspirators, the people who claim the moon landing was faked, the 911 conspiracy people, they make a lot of noise too, but that doesn't make their claims true" She shook her head as she continued. "I'd put your claims in the same category"

"Really?" Peterson looked to the jury. "I would suggest that your participation in this lesbian cabal orchestrated by Johnson and Raydor, their attempts to paint my clients as anything other than the innocent law enforcement personnel they are, is a reflection on their attempts to find scapegoats for crimes that Raydor was unable to solve" He looked to the jury. "They needed to close a major case to get Raydor promoted and therefore determined that trying to stitch up innocent members of the LAPD and Justice Department fitted the bill perfectly" Natalie tipped her head to regard him then finally spoke.

"Sorry Mister Peterson, but are you talking about the same trial the rest of us have been watching, because I'd kinda think the evidence there and the trial you're talking about are two separate things"

"The witness will confine themselves to the questions being asked" It was Craven, the pompous ass; Natalie though was unfazed, looking his way and nodding.

"Yes Your Honour, sorry"

Peterson smiled and went back to hammering at her relationship with Ana and by inference all of our sexuality, trying to suggest to the jury that our 'closeness' meant we weren't objective and that our case was tainted. He was trying to paint Nat as part of our so-called gay 'coven'. I sat and watched alongside Andrea as we waited for Natalie's chance to hit him with what we'd worked on.

"You would therefore be forced to agree that you seek out the company of lesbians over non-gay members of society would you not Miss Dearing, indicating your preference for them?" Natalie nodded slowly.

"Yes, most of my closest friends here in Los Angeles are gay" Natalie shrugged. "Of course most of my friends in Seattle and Denver and Cheyenne aren't" That drew a frown and a scoffing retort.

"Really, I find that hard to believe, your behaviour here in Los Angeles indicates a pattern of behaviour that is quite different to that comment" Natalie nodded agreeably as she replied.

"That's because I hadn't come out as gay until I met my partner in Seattle" Peterson nodded.

"So before that your pattern of friends was typically normal?" I was considering interjecting, seeing Andrea scowling at that choice of words but we both decided to let it slide, leaving this to Natalie, this was what we'd spent all those hours preparing her for after all.

"I'd say it was normal for a heterosexual girl, yes" Nat smiled, a little softly then pushed on. "But that was then, this is now, and I'm not that person anymore" Peterson frowned as he spoke.

"Yes, you seem to have abandoned your previous friends as thoroughly as you have you abandoned your previous lifestyle" Natalie shrugged.

"I don't see it that way Mister Peterson, I came to Los Angeles and made friends here, friends I met through work, the same as I did in Seattle for example"

"All your friends here are lesbians are they not?" Nat nodded agreeably as she answered.

"Well mostly, though there are guys and non-gay women here in LA I consider friends, but my closest friends, yeah they're gay"

"You choose to associate with your lesbian confederates to the exclusion of most others do you not?" Natalie nodded as she answered.

"Of course I choose to be with them, they're my friends after all" Peterson turned where he was standing between Nat and the jury and honed in on that.

"These lesbians, your friends as you call them; that you work with and socialise with to the exclusion of all others" Nat nodded again.

"You keep using that word exclusion, I wouldn't say to the 'exclusion' of all others" She smiled as she put the word in finger quotes. "I socialise with people from across the department and beyond"

"Oh really" Peterson's voice dripped scepticism. "Would you be kind enough to inform the court of who these others who aren't lesbian's might actually be?" Natalie smiled.

"The department's media team of course, given I'm a part of that team"

"Let's be honest here Miss Dearing, you lead that team. I would naturally expect you to spend time with them, as would any 'objective' observer" Natalie nodded agreeably.

"Naturally, plus the Major Crimes team…"

"Home to several of your gay friends" Peterson interrupted, but Nat remained unfazed as she nodded and replied.

"Yes, I socialise with my friends and their work colleagues, shocking I know" She smiled at the jury and pressed on. "Then there were drinks with the LAPD K9 unit two weeks back after we landed a deal to film a kids TV series about the unit" She frowned. "That was Friday night, we caught up with FBI Director Martinez and his wife for lunch on Saturday and attended a Sunday fundraising lunch with a group of media people I work closely with, I was one of their guests"

"Those are work functions in the main would you not agree?" Nat nodded once again, all smiles as she replied.

"Sure, I met them all through work, so to that point yes I suppose you could say so"

"Unlike your unnaturally close association with your lesbian friends" Natalie smiled even wider.

"Who I also all met through work" She shook her head at him. "I have friends I met through work who are straight and friends I met through work who are gay" She tipped her head to regard him. "I'm afraid this doesn't seem to be making your point Mister Peterson" Peterson's expression didn't change but I got the impression he wasn't impressed, he dived back in with his next question.

"You might socialise with work colleagues on a superficial level, but it is your lesbian friends with whom your life is intertwined" Peterson glanced at the jury and continued. "You spend all your free time at each other's houses, frequent lesbian dance and night clubs together, work together, socialise together, would you not agree that when you choose to spend time with someone, in the vast, in fact overwhelming, preponderance of cases, you chose to do so with your lesbian cohorts"

"I wouldn't say the overwhelming preponderance, that's your words Mister Peterson, not mine, but I prefer to spend time with my closest friends"

"Because they are lesbian's like you; that is why you choose to spend time with them in preference to others, is it not?"

"Not specifically for that reason but generally yes, mostly because we share the same interests" Peterson nodded, his expression and voice carrying hints of satisfaction, he obviously thought he'd made his point.

"Being gay" he stated, drawing a smile from Natalie before she answered his question.

"Well yes, there is that too but that's only a small part of our lives, I was going to say we like clothes and fashion, going out shopping and to nice cafés and restaurants with our friends, seeing movies together, going running or playing tennis or doing yoga, getting together over lunch or dinner or a barbeque, talking about our favourite TV shows, all the things friends do together" Peterson ignored that to go back to his key point, like a dog who couldn't let a bone alone.

"As I said, you are unnaturally close to your like-minded lesbian associates" Natalie gave him a slow smile.

"That's an unusual choice of words Mister Peterson; unnaturally…I certainly don't see it that way"

"Your relationship with your lesbian girlfriends certainly fits the description" I was about to object to the use of the word girlfriend, given all its connotations but Nat was already on it.

"Yes they are my girlfriends Mister Peterson, my lesbian girlfriends" She shook her head and pressed on. "Let me be clear on this. They are my girl…friends who happen to be lesbian, please don't suggest the wrong form of relationship when what you're insinuating doesn't exist"

"Given your excessive closeness, many would reach the same conclusion" He shook his head. "The unnatural closeness of your relationship with your friends, who you spend the vast majority of your time with, suggests such a conclusion" Nat slowly shook her head, not angry, somehow, though I was, instead she managed to convey amusement and a little pity towards Peterson, something she hammered home when she spoke.

"I'm sorry Mister Peterson, but you seem to have a really warped idea of what a lesbian's lifestyle is, but that's okay, you're a guy and don't understand what you're commenting on" She smiled. "It's not non-stop lesbian orgies and sex morning, noon and night" She shook her head and looked to the jury. "Sorry, that might be male fantasy and porn material, but in real life we're just like any group of couples" She pulled a face then continued. "We complain about our jobs, work to pay bills, argue about who's turn it is to take out the trash or wash the dishes or do the laundry, surprise each other, annoy each other and love each other, we're just the same as everyone else, the only difference is that we're two girls, not a girl and a guy" She shrugged. "Or two guys" She looked to Peterson, taking in his thoughtful expression; no doubt he was looking for a way to turn that to his advantage and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry" Natalie practically purred. "Was that not the answer you were looking for?" She tried to look a little repentant but it didn't come off. "I'm afraid gay girls don't conform to the stereotype some people have" Peterson rallied quickly.

"But you do not deny that you have an unnatural closeness to the other witnesses"

"You keep using that word but I don't think it means what you think it means" She smiled thinly and pressed on as I tried not to smirk at the quote from the Princess Bride, we'd watched it a month or so ago, sprawled all over the couches at our place, apparently it was one of her favourites. "That depends on what you would call unnatural" Nat tipped her head to regard Peterson. "I mean that could cover a wide variety of behaviours, one person's innocent habit is another's kink after all" She smiled at him then looked to the jury, hammering the point home. "In some countries my wearing a short skirt and having my head uncovered would be scandalous, whereas here…" She let that hang for a moment, giving time for everyone to see her point before pushing on. "Tell me Mister Peterson, what do you think constitutes unnatural?" He wasn't going to bite.

"I asked you the question Ms Dearing" Nat kept her voice calm and kept smiling.

"I know you did Mr Peterson, and I've asked for clarification, surely we're both just trying to get to the truth here" Nat being her usual happy, outgoing self, as we'd practiced, it was playing well with the jury I could see, making me smile thinly as I watched Peterson thinking that over for openings, before pushing forward a suggestion.

"You spend much of your work hours and social time together, visit gay clubs together, spend much of your free time together, to the exclusion of any and all others"

"Well Mr Peterson, I don't consider that strange at all" He looked openly sceptical, something his voice carried.

"To live a life almost joined at the hip to a group of other lesbians?" He glanced at the jury. "Many would" Natalie shook her head slowly and leaned forward to ensure the microphone picked up her response perfectly.

"Are you gay Mr Peterson?" Surprised, Peterson stood there for a second then shook his head as he replied.

"My sexuality is not a matter for this court" Natalie smiled kindly before replying.

"I think it is, after all you're peering into the lives of a group of gay girls and trying to pass judgement without understanding what you're talking about" She sat back. "That's like condemning a religion without once attending a service or reading their holy book" Nat shrugged. "Or disparaging a sport without understanding the rules or attending a game" She smiled widely. "You have to understand something before you can pass judgement" Peterson shook his head as he spoke dismissively.

"I do not need to be a lesbian to understand your lifestyle"

"Oh really?" Natalie pounced on that. "If you purport to understand lesbians then you tell me why I spend most of my free time socialising with other lesbians" Peterson deftly sidestepped that.

"Why don't you explain that to the court, you after all are the witness here" Natalie smiled happily as she spoke.

"Be glad to" She looked to the jury and began. "I am a member of a minority in this country; that is I am a gay woman, more than that, an openly gay woman" She smiled. "At the end of the day, it just means I fell in love with someone special, someone who just happened to be another girl, rather than a guy" She shook her head. "Many people, well most people actually, are cool with that, or don't care, but unfortunately not everyone accepts it, for some it's a religious thing, after all a number of the faiths have some quite nasty things to say about homosexuality in any form" She looked from the jury to the audience to the cameras then back again. "Then there are the people who don't like gays for any number of personal reasons, from feeling threatened by someone else with a different take on sexuality to parents worrying about whether their kids will turn homosexual if exposed to gay men or women, like being gay is some kind of weird communicable disease" She snorted and then smiled at the camera as she directed her comment to the audience across the country.

"Trust me, it doesn't work like that"

 **Washington DC Bethesda Naval Hospital**

In her small cubicle in the rehabilitation centre of Bethesda Naval Hospital, Laura Dearing punched the air triumphantly.

"Way to go sis!" A couple of heads popped up at the noise, including her friends and fellow physical therapists Cathy Temple and Colleen Hamilton.

"What's up?" Colleen asked as Cathy nodded.

"My sister's in the witness box at that trial and she's making the defence lawyer look like an idiot" She grinned and indicated the small television screen she'd set up alongside her computer monitor. "Come and see" Both women hastened around and gathered behind Lauren.

"That's your sister? She's pretty" said Cathy as Colleen nodded.

"Yep, smart too, they're trying to make out that her being gay and having gay friends is a bad thing" Lauren shook her head. "Idiots"

 **In Court**

Natalie turned back to look at the jury and continued her explanation.

"Some people see it as against god's will because we can't conceive a child, or something equally silly. I mean we can, it's just science; it's not all that different from artificial insemination really which is just science helping heterosexual couples who can't conceive naturally" Natalie moved slightly and favoured the camera closest to the jury with a small smile before continuing. "Then there are the men who see homosexuality in woman as a threat to their worldview. They see themselves as alpha males and women as their, sometimes subservient, partners and to have a woman not just reject them, but to seek sexual and emotional happiness with another woman offends their sense of right and wrong, threatening their worldview and their place in it"

"Does all this have a point?" Peterson interrupted as Natalie turned her head to regard him, all innocence.

"You did ask why I'm so close to my gay friends, I'm trying to answer that" She smiled. "Consider me a subject matter expert on the subject and that might help"

"You are expected to answer the question, not embark on a rambling diatribe" Peterson looked to Craven. "Your Honour, I ask you to direct the witness to stick to answering the questions put to them" I stood and spoke up.

"Your Honour, the witness is attempting to answer Counsel's question, unfortunately it seems as if Defence Counsel doesn't want to hear any context" I shook my head. "Defence has asked a question going to the heart of one of the great social issues of our time, human sexuality, expecting a yes or no answer. The witness is attempting to answer that question by placing it in context" Andrea stood to back me up.

"Your Honour, as a gay woman, one whose lifestyle and sexuality have been repeatedly and virulently attacked in this court by the Defence, I would like to petition the court to allow the witness to speak" She waved Natalie's way. "As the witness herself stated, she is a subject matter expert on the lifestyle of gay women in general and in particular a member of a group of gay women who have been subject to some especially nasty slurs and slanders here in this court. I ask that she be allowed to speak" Ling then rose and spoke up.

"Your Honour, I don't see how allowing the witness to undertake some rambling diatribe will assist this case" Craven looked from us to her and back again then looked to Natalie.

"Miss Dearing" She turned to look at him.

"Yes Your Honour" she asked, tilting her head to one side and smiling coquettishly, playing up to him slightly.

"Please try and keep your answers brief and to the point" She nodded and smiled a bit wider as she replied.

"I'll try Your Honour" He nodded.

"Then continue" Nat nodded briefly then leaned forward towards the microphone as Ling resumed her seat.

"So I'm a gay woman in a society that has generally accepted us, but there are still people who don't like us for all sorts of reasons" She shrugged then continued. "That's reason enough to be a little circumspect. On top of that, I'm an attractive woman, as are all of my friends, as such there is a second level of concern overlaid on top of the concerns that many gay woman have in society. There are predators out there who don't like gays, god knows there are enough beatings and murders of gay people each year to attest to that" She looked to the jury. "It's why those crimes are prosecuted as hate crimes" Shaking her head she continued. "When you add the higher than average risk of being attacked, raped and possibly murdered because you are an attractive woman, you can see why we're prudent about exactly how vulnerable we let ourselves be"

"Does this rambling diatribe actually have a point?" It was Peterson. I saw Andrea about to rise when Natalie nodded.

"I'm just coming to that now" She looked from the jury to the audience and the cameras. "Yes, I have a close relationship with my friends that some, such as Mr Peterson here obviously does, might label unnatural; however to me it is anything but. I spend my time in the company of other women who understand the concerns that I have, they share them too" Natalie turned her head to look at Andrea and I and smiled. "Deputy Chief Johnson, Doctor Isles, DDA's Cabot and Hobbs here, their partners, all of them are beautiful women whose looks and choice of partner and career have placed them at risk. We spend time with our friends because when we are together we know we are safe, without the risks that come from some elements of the wider community" Natalie turned back to face the jury as she spoke directly to them. "If I'm close to them, it's because they share my concerns, and spending time together is easier than spending time interacting with others who don't understand those concerns"

"So you're telling the court you spend all your time together with your lesbian 'friends'…" Peterson put it in quotes, the bastard. "…closeted together because you're afraid of being targeted for being a lesbian, by non-lesbians?" Peterson scoffed. "That sounds remarkably far-fetched wouldn't you agree?" Natalie however played it cool, shaking her head as she answered.

"Not really, given we're gay, or for being an attractive woman, or for working in a role with the LAPD, all of those lead to me and my friends being targeted"

"That's a bit of a stretch don't you think? That it's not safe to interact with non-gays because of your choice of partner, I would suggest it has more to do with your own personal issues and your shared disdain for those who do not share your lifestyle" Natalie shook her head, her voice clear and calm as I saw her slam the trap shut on him.

"You obviously haven't been keeping up with current events Mr Peterson" She smiled. "We are here in court today because there have been several attempts on our lives, in part because of our friendships" Nat's smile turned slightly cruel as she turned the question back on him, as we'd planned and practiced. "Which, given the assertions you and your team have been regularly making, seem to suggest that some of it is because of our sexuality" Leaving that thought hanging in the air she shrugged and looked to the jury again. "I hang out with my gay friends because they are my friends. Not only are we friends, just like everyone has friends they hang out with, they understand the same concerns I have, face the same issues I do, is it any wonder we hang out together?" Peterson didn't know enough to leave well enough alone.

"There is friendship and then there is the level of almost co-dependence you display as a group, you spend all day working together, you socialise when not working and go out to each other's houses or lesbian clubs at night together" Natalie nodded agreeably at Peterson's statement before replying.

"I think that there is a measure of co-dependence in any close friendship, after all liking and sharing the same things is normally a measure of friendship" She raised an eyebrow. "That's the same with your friends I gather Mister Peterson, the same as most people; and before you jump in, lesbians are most people"

"But here we have a group of women, all incredibly close lesbians, all involved in investigating and prosecuting a trial, a closeness that raises legitimate questions about your relationships, your objectivity and your suitability to conduct this investigation"

"Only if you consider lesbians and their friendships illegitimate, something I wouldn't expect from someone in this day and age Mister Peterson, not unless they're a nasty homophobe" She smiled sweetly at him before continuing. "The gender of the person we love isn't our only defining trait. They're my friends; that's why I spend time with them, I like spending time in their company. As for going out to lesbian clubs together, where would you have me go Mr Peterson?" She shook her head and continued before he could respond.

"I'm a lesbian Mister Peterson; my partner, my friends and I go to clubs that cater to us. There the people who make passes at me are other gay girls who, if I was single, might actually interest me. If I went to a non-gay club, I'd have passes not only from whichever girls that might be interested in me but a hell of a lot more guys, none of whom interest me at all" She tipped her head to regard him. "I can handle the girls but why would I want to have to fend off drunkenly aggressive and handsy guys all night as well?" Peterson tried to drag her back onto the track he wanted.

"So you disdain spending time with those who do not share your lifestyle, further proving your hostile attitude to non-lesbians, you obviously share much in common with Raydor and Johnson in that regard, hardly surprising given you live your life entwined in each other's lives" Nat tipped her head to regard him, probably buying herself a little time to answer, before she smiled a little nastily and spoke.

"Do you frequent gay nightclubs Mister Peterson?" she asked, drawing a surprised look from Peterson before he gave her a short retort.

"I do not" Her smile widened.

"Exactly, that's not your thing, I go to lesbian clubs because they are my thing" She smiled, "Don't knock it if you haven't tried it"

"The witness will stick to the point" Craven interjected, getting a nod and a smile from Natalie.

"Sorry, I mean yes Your Honour" She looked back at Peterson. "You go out to places that cater to people with similar tastes and interests, the same as I do" He made a dismissive gesture.

"I doubt there is any similarity whatsoever between our lifestyles, I do not feel the need to constantly live hand in glove with other people Miss Dearing, unlike you and your incredibly close friends" Natalie sadly shook her head before she replied.

"And so we come back once more to the insinuations regarding the extent of my friendship with the other women with whom I socialise, let me be completely clear on this Mister Peterson" She looked to the cameras. "I like my friends, really like them, they're good people who I really enjoy hanging out with and doing fun things together, I enjoy their company" She turned and directed her next words to the jury. "Some of them, my closest friends, I love them. They're like my sisters to me, I love them, trust them, care for them and would do anything for them and you know what, I know they'd do the same for me, without question" She looked back at Peterson, her voice firming up. "That said however, I have one lover, and I am hers and hers alone, the same as she is mine" Peterson went to say something but she rode straight over the top of him as she looked back to the jury.

"I love and am incredibly fortunate to be loved by a beautiful woman. I might have fallen for a man, but instead I fell for a person, someone who is everything I ever wanted, they happen to be a woman but what they are counts a hell of a lot less than who they are and they're the one person I love above all others" She turned back to Peterson, holding up her hand and showing the diamond ring there to the whole court. "I'm engaged to her and cannot wait to be married to her" Peterson looked like he was about to say something but she cut him off again. "So no Mister Peterson, despite your assertions about our closeness, I see nothing wrong with it. I have a group of really good friends; a small group who I love like sisters, but there is and always will be only one person for me and her name is Anastasia Romanov"

I smiled and turned my head, catching Andrea's eye, seeing her smile as she nodded gently and I did the same.

Peterson stood there for a few seconds, glancing at the jury and taking in their mood, I could see a few smiles and one or two jurors nodding gently, Natalie's words had obviously made an impact, something Peterson must have realised. He decided to cut his losses.

"No further questions for this witness" Craven looked to Humphries defender who looked at Natalie, stood and spoke.

"No questions from me Your Honour"

 **Boston**

Susie and Riley were snuggled up on the couch at Susie's apartment, it was small but cosy, they each maintained a place but had decided that once their leases were up they'd look for a larger place to move in to, together. Now though they were watching the end of the day's proceedings in Los Angeles on cable. As they cut to the talking heads in the studio Susie muted the sound and looked to Riley.

"Wow" At her comment Riley nodded.

"Yeah, pretty much says it all" Susie nodded.

"Maura had really good things to say about her when I spoke to her last time she was here" Riley nodded slowly.

"Yeah, they said that they had a bunch of good friends out there, I guess we've seen a lot of them here" Susie nodded and sat up, Riley feeling the absence of her warmth and comfort, even as Susie started counting her fingers off.

"That FBI Agent and her partner, the one we just watched, Natalie; then there's her boss, the Deputy Chief and her partner, plus the two attorneys prosecuting and their partners, they all seem close"

"Close enough that the prosecution is trying to turn it against them" Susie, always the more optimistic of the two smiled.

"I'd say that just got a little bit less effective, thanks to that" She nodded at the television which showed the two anchors in the studio discussing the recent testimony. "She did a good job of explaining what it's like as an attractive, gay woman" She frowned. "It's not always easy" Picking up on her lover's slight discomfort Riley dragged her back down into her arms and snuggled close.

"That's why you have me bao-bei, for protection" The mangled pronunciation of the Chinese 'cherished one' that just happened to sound like the English 'baby' never failed to draw a smile from Susie and it did it again here.

"Barbarian" she scoffed though her smile belied the words. They lay there for a while, just cuddling, before Susie spoke, her voice reflective. "What are we going to do about us?"

"Oh?" asked Riley.

"I mean Cavanagh is still a dick about gays, that doesn't seem like it's going to change anytime soon, right?" Riley shook her head in monumental frustration.

"Unfortunately no, it doesn't look like it" She grimaced at recent memory. "To have him throw Jane under the defence's bus during a capital crime trial, that's just all kinds of wrong" Susie nodded against Riley's shoulder and replied, her voice kinda speculative.

"I still have Pike as my boss and he's a nightmare to work for, plus I don't like having to hide who we are and what we have together from everyone" She half shrugged, as best she could given the position she was in. "I want everyone to know we're together, to be open about it, not have to hide it" Riley placed a quick kiss to the top of Susie's head before replying.

"Me too, but what's the solution? Cavanagh's not going anywhere unfortunately and Maura's not coming back so you're stuck with Pike, same as I'm stuck with Cavanagh"

"Maybe, maybe not, I mean if Pike keeps messing up forensics evidence the way he has, maybe they'll get rid of him, but it's Cavanagh I'm worried about" Riley shook her head as she replied.

"He's hanging in till retirement and his pension, like I said, he's not going anywhere"

"That's what I mean. If he won't go, maybe you should" Riley twisted her head round and down to look Susie in the eyes.

"What do you mean, go back to vice?" Susie shook her head and moved to look up into her lover's eyes, brown eyes meeting subtly different brown.

"No we move somewhere where we can do our jobs as a criminologist and homicide detective, and be together publically, without the idiots we have as our bosses" Riley thought about it, the idea was a nice one, even if they'd have to start their careers again.

"Where though, we'd have to find a force that was looking for a criminologist and a homicide detective at the same time" Susie nodded at that, she sure as hell didn't want to do anything that might result in them not working together.

"I don't know, I'll give Maura a call and let her know what's happening here, she might know of something" Susie smiled. "Maybe the LAPD might have a job for us both, I know her and Jane would both put in a good word for us" Riley nodded slowly as she thought it over; LA was a damned long way away, the far side of the country in fact. It'd mean uprooting themselves and moving but on the other hand it had worked out for Maura and Jane... She looked down and smiled at her lover.

"Can't hurt, give her a call and see what she has to say" The smile she got back was happy and sexy and made her feel things were better just for seeing it. Susie crawled up her body to snuggle in Riley's lap and planted a kiss on her lips, one Riley happily returned even as she felt Susie's hands start to wander.

One thing led to another and before they knew it time was getting late, too late to cook so they had to order food in,

Neither one cared though.


	9. Chapter 9

**Intersecting Lines – The Trial**

 **Part 09 – The Perils of Publishing**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

It was a clear, bright Tuesday morning and the media was thick on the ground, outside broadcast vans pulled up everywhere, news teams scattered across the plaza in front of the courthouse, many recording grabs for their news bulletins, or in some cases talking live with the hosts of morning television here or early afternoon news on the East Coast. Fortunately we were able to come in via a secure entrance to the side, past two separate security checkpoints, the one at the door operated by the LAPD and the one inside by the Los Angeles County Sherriff's Department but now, looking out over the crowd from our vantage point in the office suite the Los Angeles County DA's office maintained in the court complex I shook my head even as Andrea spoke.

"It's a near riot out there" I glanced across at her and nodded.

"They know we're putting Hernandez on the stand today and his testimony will be crucial, so they're expecting fireworks" I said as I looked up and scanned the rooftops around the plaza, catching a few heads visible, LAPD and Sherriff's sniper's or so I'd been told. "It's also a chance for Sinaloa to strike at him, hence all the security" Andrea looked across at me and then out again, scanning the area then nodding slowly, finally she looked back at me.

"You're remarkably calm about all this" I shrugged, not looking at her, instead looking back in time as I cradled my warm coffee in both hands, not saying anything for a while before finally coming back from the past. I looked at her and gave her a small smile.

"Not my first time. I've seen it all before, years ago, with the trial against the Columbian drug cartel that wanted me dead" I threw her a glance then returned to looking out the window once again as I continued. "When I was brought in to testify the security was just like this" Andrea nodded slowly, officially they were bringing Hernandez in via a helicopter to an adjacent building and then by armoured car to the court building, in fact he was already here, he'd walked in dressed as a janitor an hour and a half ago and was drinking coffee in an office two floors below.

"It's going to be explosive inside today" Andrea stated, I nodded as I turned to Andrea and replied.

"Yep, once we get going it's going to be non-stop hammering of nails in their collective coffins, I'm expecting Peterson will try to get as much disallowed as possible" Andrea smiled.

"He can try, but that Bureau agent's testimony first should cut a lot of that off at the knees"

"I hope so" I said, then smiled at her. "Seeing Peterson lose has become as much my objective as sending the rest of them away" Andrea's answering grin was quick.

"You and me both sister, it's my first time facing him and I sure as hell hope it's my last" I nodded slowly.

"If we do our job right his precious reputation's going to be shot" Andrea nodded then sighed dramatically before speaking.

"All we need is Craven to have like a judge, not a bigoted old prick, and we can" I smiled at that and nodded.

"Here's hoping" Andrea held out her coffee cup and I gently tapped mine against hers as we toasted the day when there was a knock on the door, it was Mikki; a court officer had come looking for us. He stepped up to the doorway, smiled and spoke.

"You're wanted in Judge Craven's chambers" His smile turned a little embarrassed. "Immediately I'm afraid" I glanced at Andrea and got a raised eyebrow before we followed the court officer downstairs, Mikki and Liv following in our wake. Craven didn't beat around the bush.

"Did either of you know anything about this?" He tossed a copy of Runway magazine out onto the desk in front of him, forcing me to reach forward to pick it up; I hadn't seen this month's issue yet. Andrea moved to stand beside me as we saw a fold-out cover with the words 'Women of Law Enforcement" emblazoned across the bottom of the composite image, drawing a smile unbidden. I knew Brenda, Sharon and Maura had been photographed here in LA, Casey Novak in New York and the others in their respective locations. The Runway graphic artists had then merged them into a single panoramic image of fourteen women standing and sitting together on a dark background.

I recognised our friends of course, a few of the others I'd knew like Serena Southerlyn, some I'd met once or twice like Abby Carmichael, others I'd only heard about by reputation as I scanned the cover. I glanced at Andrea and she flipped a few pages in past the ads to the index for the right page then we turned to the article. It was an impressive one; there was a gorgeously posed portrait shot on one page and on the facing page a couple more smaller images together with a short history of each person profiled and a series of questions and answers covering their achievements, their important cases and the struggle to be taken seriously in a male-dominated profession, all in all it was a great story, I smiled a little enviously, Maura looked particularly fabulous, they all did in fact, the stylists and photographers had made them look amazing. I looked up, seeing Craven's obviously testy state and shrugged.

"I knew that there was an article planned, Chief Johnson, Commander Raydor and Doctor Isles had mentioned that it was appearing but they didn't know when" Craven obviously wasn't satisfied.

"I want to know who authorized their participation in this article" I didn't know; something I explained.

"I'm not sure exactly Judge, I suspect it was the heads of each individual's respective agency" Andrea nodded and jumped in.

"I understand the request was approved by Chief Pope here in LA for the both officers and the Mayor's office for Doctor Isles" She smiled. "May I ask what the issue is?" Craven frowned, obviously pissed about something; it didn't take long to find out what.

"I'm not happy with the timing of this article, I've already got Defence screaming about it, they're calling it a blatant attempt to influence the trial" He frowned. "Hell, I'm not happy about it either, I find the timing suspicious, to put it mildly" I looked from Craven to Andrea and back again then answered.

"I'm aware the article was first proposed last year and the photography took place a couple of months ago, but as for the timing I couldn't say" Craven wasn't happy with that I could tell.

"I want you both to know that I find the timing suspicious, very suspicious, this looks very much like an attempt to paint several of your key witnesses in a very favourable light" He looked from Andrea to me and back again. "Defence is already suggesting your involvement in this, given your association with the article's subjects" I exchanged a look with Andrea and then looked back at Craven as Andrea spoke.

"I work with Chief Johnson, Commander Raydor and Doctor Isles, I'm a prosecutor, I don't write magazine articles" Craven's look was sceptical as he pushed on, changing the subject.

"Who would have approved this for publication, the timing?" Andrea pursed her lips then replied.

"That would be the editor I suspect" Craven scowled for a moment, then shook his head.

"I'm tempted to have this editor in and get them to explain their timing, I don't like it" I muffled a snort; he was going to drag Miranda all the way across the country and into his courtroom simply because he didn't like something. Craven must have heard something as he looked at me sharply, his voice testy.

"Something you want to say counsellor?" I carefully composed my features and spoke.

"The editor of Runway is a woman based in New York named Miranda Priestly, I suppose you could attempt to summons her Judge, but she would fight you all the way to the Supreme Court, no doubt quoting the First Amendment all the way" I shrugged. "Given her extensive connections I would expect her legal team to be one of the country's finest" I tried to look at least a little regretful. "Given the time for an appeal to be heard I would suspect that this trial will be well and truly over before your request would even appear on the Supreme Court's docket for consideration" Craven didn't take that at all well well, turning it back on us.

"I trust neither of you had anything to do with this article or its timing?" Andrea shook her head as I smiled and spoke truthfully.

"I was there when the initial discussion about a possible article was held, back in New York mid-last year" I spread my hands wide. "That was well before this case, certainly before I was aware that I'd be in Los Angeles, let alone being co-prosecutor on this trial" Andrea nodded.

"I can assure you we had nothing to do with the timing of this article judge" I looked to her then back at him as I shook my head.

"I had no input to this article besides being there when it was first suggested and declining to be one of the interview subjects" I said as Andrea tossed the magazine back on the desk as I continued. "This is in fact the first time I've seen it" Craven looked at Andrea with narrowed eyes, then turned to me.

"If I find either of you had anything to do with this…" He shook his head and glared balefully at us. "I take a very dim view of attempts to influence the jury through the media" Andrea held up her hands as she shook her head.

"Not me" I looked down at him and decided to hoist him on his own petard.

"Nor me, however given your concerns about media influence on the jury perhaps instead attention should be turned to the spate of negative stories being fed to media here in Los Angeles, all designed to smear the reputations of Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor" Andrea stepped back into the discussion.

"I agree, the most recent article to appear over the weekend, suggesting that they are radical feminists with an agenda of promoting unsuitable lesbians into positions they are incompetent to fill, replacing male officers, was particularly reprehensible" Craven tipped his head to one side as he spoke.

"I hadn't seen that one" I smiled as coldly as I could.

"Perhaps Mister Peterson might be able to help you there, or so I'm led to believe" Craven peered up at me.

"What the hell are you insinuating?" I shrugged nonchalantly.

"The articles all seem designed to paint key prosecution witnesses in a particularly bad light, something of significant benefit to the Defence case" Craven's mouth turned down as he scowled at his own words being turned on him then spoke up.

"Do you have any proof of his involvement Counsellor or are you merely speculating wildly?" I gestured to the copy of Runway in front of him.

"No more so than this of our supposed involvement in this Runway article" Craven stared back at me for several long moments, obviously caught in his own net, before he waved us away.

"I'll see you in court in twenty minutes" We both nodded and departed as I suppressed a nasty smirk, seeing a wicked glint in Andrea's eyes that mirrored mine.

 **Washington DC**

Serena Southerlyn was sitting at her desk eating her lunch and carefully looking over the Runway article, she had to admit the shot of her looked amazing; they'd fitted her out in a stunning black Prada suit and posed her in front of an empty jury box, her hand resting on the wooden bannister, looking at the camera challengingly. The image was so striking she had already decided she was buying that suit and to hell with the cost, plus she was considering asking for a large copy of the image to have framed as a portrait; it was that good, when the phone rang.

"Southerlyn" The Texas drawl on the other end told her exactly who it was.

"Hi Serena" She smiled, pretty sure why her friend had called.

"Hi Abbie"

"Saw the article, girl you look great"

"It's entirely the photographer's work, let me tell you" Serena smiled. "She did a great job with you too" Her friend, over in the US Attorney's office across town, chuckled.

"I'm gonna have to get a bigger copy of the photo, my folks have already been on to me this morning about getting one they can frame for their place" Serena nodded.

"I was thinking of doing the same, getting a copy I mean" She flicked across the pages to see the image of Abbie; the photographer had caught her standing behind a desk wearing a charcoal Armani suit, leaning forward balanced on her fingertips and staring at the camera challengingly, the Washington skyline in the window behind her. "You look good"

"We all do, I've already sent Alex a thank you email" Abbie paused. "I'm kinda surprised she wasn't in it, her and Liv" Serena shrugged unconsciously as she answered.

"Don't know, I mean she suggested both of us, it seems kind of strange" She let her eyes trail across the pages. "At least we're in good company; there are some amazing women in here"

"That there is" Abbie agreed, then continued. "Speaking of which you've seen the trial" It wasn't a question; they both knew which trial she meant.

"You mean that travesty of a trial?" Abbie chuckled before replying.

"I keep waiting for Alex to go the full Cabot on Peterson, you know it's gonna happen sooner or later" Serena smiled, knowing exactly what Abbie meant.

"I know, it's just a matter of time" Serena's smile widened as she gently teased her friend. "I didn't know you had an Italian sister"

"You mean that Rizzoli woman?" Abbie said. "Yeah, that threw me a bit when I saw her on the stand; everyone keeps telling me about her"

"You do look like sisters Abbie"

"Yeah, my mom had a few choice comments to my dad about that" Abbie snickered. "Lucky for him he'd never been near Boston all those years ago" Serena smiled.

"Very lucky" She smiled at her recollections of Abbie's formidable mother before returning to the subject. "Seriously though, the resemblance is almost creepy"

"Yeah, like I said, it threw me for a loop too, though she's a few years younger, her complexion's too swarthy and then there's that hair" Serena laughed.

"I couldn't imagine you ever letting your hair get that wild"'

"No way, I don't want to get mistaken for some gay homicide detective" Abbie chuckled then continued. "Though she seems like a bad ass, based on the evidence at the trial and her history" Serena sat back and smiled as she spoke into her phone.

"Oh, been doing some Googling of your twin have you?"

"Of course" Abbie said. "So many people round here have brought it up that I wanted to get the low down" Serena nodded unconsciously as she spoke.

"Based on everything I've seen in the trial, she is a bad ass" Abbie laughed.

"Course she is, if I have to have a double out there, she'd better be if she's gonna keep up with me" Serena smiled, she loved teasing her friend, and she'd just been given an opening.

"From what I've seen it's you who'd be struggling to keep up"

"Hey!" Abbie's voice carried her offended Texan pride all too well, making Serena smile, it widened at Abbie's next comment. "What's she got that I haven't?" Flipping pages Serena decided to point out that that neither of their love lives were anything to write home about right now.

"I don't know; have you seen her girlfriend, the one on page 72?" The silence that followed told her she'd hit home. Finally Abbie replied.

"Yeah, there is that"

 **New York 1PP**

In the privacy of her office Casey Novak sat back and smiled hugely, taking in the image of her, in Runway magazine of all places; never in her wildest dreams had she ever thought she'd appear in a magazine, let alone THE global fashion bible.

They'd posed her, wearing a cream skirt suit and muted pale green blouse and perched on a set of towering cream Prada heels, standing on the steps in front of New York's Supreme Court building, a beautiful tan leather briefcase in her hand, turning as if she was responding to someone calling her name, her hair swirling as she did. Through a trick of the camera lens everyone around her was blurred, leaving her the centre of both the shot and the attention. Her skin looked sensational and her hair, well it practically shone; to be honest it made her re-evaluate her appearance, was this how she really looked…?

Shaking her head, Casey pointedly reminded herself that they could do anything with Photoshop then flipped across pages once more, taking in the other women featured, they were all beautiful, accomplished successful women, to be included amongst them…just wow.

While she'd already fired off a thank you email to Alex, she still owed her a very special thank you for arranging this. Maybe she'd call Liv and get some ideas what she could get Alex; after all it wasn't easy buying presents for someone fabulously wealthy.

Speaking of money, she read the details in the magazine of the suit, blouse and shoes combo she'd worn, trying not to wince at the price, then shook her head, she had to have them, anything that looked that good on her was a must have.

A few moments online had the number of the closest outlets to her office and she grabbed her phone and credit card, already resigned to blowing a ridiculous amount of money on that ensemble, especially the heels, but for once not giving a damn.

 **Los Angeles**

We had a few minutes before court so I decided that I needed to turn the screws a bit harder up in Sacramento and now I had just the ammunition I needed. I pulled out a card and rang the cell number there, a few seconds later they picked up.

"Souza"

"Ah Miss Souza, Alex Cabot"

"Good morning Miss Cabot, to what do I owe your call?" I smiled happily.

"Have you seen this month's copy of Runway magazine perhaps?" There was a puzzled silence before she answered.

"No, why exactly would I want to?"

"I suggest you get your hands on a copy as soon as you can, given it features three of the women who have been slandered and denigrated by Peterson and his associates in Craven's court" There was a stunned silence for a few seconds before Souza replied, the shock and surprise in her voice evident down the line..

"You're joking" I unconsciously shook my head, not even bothering to hide my smile.

"Not at all, plus I know a number of the other women featured in this edition, all in law enforcement, I also know for certain they won't be adverse to giving the media their opinion on the both the trial and Craven's handling of it" Souza's voice was stumbling, obviously still dealing with the shock

"How the hell did you…you couldn't have…" She must have realised she was rambling and stopped herself. "Miss Cabot, how on earth did you arrange the timing?"

"I have my ways" I lied happily.

"Are you trying to tell me you had a hand in the publication of this article?" I shrugged.

"I was there when it was first developed though I declined to be featured in it, unfortunately as it turns out, but I nominated a number of the women in the article and given I know them quite well, I'm certain they won't hang back when it comes to giving the media in their parts of the country their opinion on the case"

"What do you mean their parts of the country?" Souza asked weakly.

"Runway featured a selection of women from across the country, New York, Washington, Las Vegas, New Orleans, plus out here of course"

"How could you have arranged this, the timing?" Given her suspicions I smiled to myself before replying.

"You could ask Miranda Priestly, not only will she happily confirm what I've told you, I'm sure she won't be adverse to providing media with her take on the case as well" I could hear the surprise in Souza's voice.

"You know Miranda Priestly?" My smile widened, I was sure Souza could hear it in my voice.

"Miranda is someone I count as a good friend Miss Souza, she came through for us with this issue" I checked my watch and started wrapping up. "You can call her if you like, or you could save yourself some time and get a copy of the magazine and see for yourself. I have to head into court again but I just thought you should know" There was a few seconds silence on the line before Souza came back, a different tone in her voice, respect perhaps.

"Thank you, I'll check it out" I glanced at my watch; I was due in court in a few minutes.

"You should, it's an excellent article. Anyway, I have to go, I look forward to hearing from you soon Miss Souza. Goodbye"

With that I turned to the window and laughed at the world, knowing I'd just dropped a huge bomb in the Governor's offices up in Sacramento and not caring a damn.

 **Las Vegas LVPD Crime Lab**

"I believe congratulations are in order Catherine" Catherine Willows looked up from the DNA sampling she was engrossed in to see her boss, Ray Langstrom, standing in the doorway. Mentally replaying his words she frowned in surprise.

"Not that I'm adverse to congratulations in general but what exactly am I being congratulated for?" Her boss smiled and produced a copy of a magazine from behind his back as her eyes widened and her voice changed. "It's out already?!"

"Yes, apparently this morning, I spotted the cover as I was getting a coffee and grabbed a copy for you" Catherine smiled widely and reached for it.

"Thank you, I was told it wasn't due till next month's issue" She took a moment to admire the wrap-around cover, seeing her seated between an older blonde in a trench coat and a red-haired woman in a cream suit, standing on each side.

Opening the magazine the index led her straight to the article and she paged through to the double page on her; she laid the magazine flat on the bench in front of her and leaned over a bit, taking in the image there. They'd photographed her in a wide range of poses but the one they'd gone with was her wearing a dark crimson trouser suit and heels combo with a crisp white blouse, her left hand holding the jacket over her shoulder, her other hand on her hip, next to her badge.

Catherine smiled; she looked like a cross between an action movie star and a model, totally professional and totally hot all at once. She shook her head and looked up, a little ruefully.

"Talk about the magic of the camera, I don't look that good after a full day's work in the salon" Ray smiled gently as he replied.

"Oh I don't know, I think it's a good likeness" Catherine blushed gently at the compliment, then ran her eyes over the text alongside, seeing they'd not changed her responses, everything there was just as she recalled saying, they'd not edited it or taken her words out of context. Ray nodded at the image. "I have to say that suit looks good on you" Catherine looked up and smiled.

"I already bought it, when they did the shoot I decided that I liked it enough to buy it myself"" Ray nodded.

"Good call" He raised his eyebrows. "What about the other women in the article?" Catherine flicked quickly back to the start of the article and started flipping through them.

"Brenda Leigh Johnson from the LAPD, the one from the trial…" Ray nodded as she kept going. "Serena Southerlyn, a lawyer in Washington, Jennifer Jareau, a Bureau Agent" Ray interrupted her.

"I know of her, she's with the Bureau's behavioural analysis unit, they do some good work" Catherine nodded and flipped another page.

"Casey Novak, a New York prosecutor, Sharon Raydor, also from the LAPD and that trial, Temperance Brennan from the Jeffersonian" She looked up at Ray. "I've heard of her" Ray nodded.

"As have I" She looked down and flicked another page.

"Maura Isles, I'd heard about her before the trial, she's supposed to have a really good rep, a Bureau agent in New York, Jordan Shaw, a Federal lawyer, Abbie Carmichael, a New Orleans detective, Stella Bonasera" She flipped past the spread she was in. "Erin Reagan, a NYPD lawyer" She shook her head. A lot of New Yorkers in here" Ray shrugged.

"I suspect the magazine is published in New York" he noted as Catherine nodded slowly and paged on.

"This is interesting, Kensi Blye, she's with the Navy's Criminal Investigative Service in California" Ray nodded as he replied.

"I suppose that in any organisation as big as the Navy there's always going to be a level of crime, so I guess they need their own cops" Catherine nodded at that as she finished, flipping to the last one.

"And a Chicago cop, Erin Lindsey" She flipped one more page but Lindsey was the last. "Well, I'd never in a million years imagine I'd end up in Runway" Ray nodded once then asked a question.

"So it was someone you met who suggested you?"

"Yeah, an author, Rick Castle, I met him at a forensics convention years ago and we talked one night over dinner, he was looking for more background for his books" Ray nodded as he spoke.

"I haven't read them, but I have seen them on the stands" Catherine smiled.

"He sells enough of them" She looked up at her boss. "It was just dinner, at first I thought he was interested in something more, if you know what I mean…" Ray nodded and Catherine continued. "…but he was totally professional, all he was interested in was getting the facts right" She shrugged. "Turned out we both have daughters from previous marriages, about the same age too" Catherine smiled at the memory. "I later found out he's involved with a NYPD cop, kinda surprised she's not in here"

"You must have made an impression, he remembered you and suggested you for this" Catherine nodded once.

"Yeah, I'll have to send him a thank you note" She flipped back to the image and her smile widened. "A very nice thank you note" Ray nodded as well.

"You might want to see if you can get a portrait sized copy of that image too, it's something to show the grandkids" Catherine looked down at the image and her expression grew thoughtful.

"Good idea, thanks Ray, and thanks for the copy" He smiled and nodded.

"My pleasure" He looked down at the paperwork on the desk and shifted back into work mode. "Anything on the DNA markers from the Chiswick murder yet?" Catherine changed gears and dropped back into her work mindset.

"A few, nothing conclusive yet but I'm waiting on the final batch from the blood we got off the golf club head" Ray nodded.

"Let me know if anything turns up, Jim Brass is sweating on it" With a wave he turned and strolled out, leaving Catherine to get back to her work.

She did however spend another moment looking at the picture of her in Runway as a huge smile broke out.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Media Centre**

Natalie Dearing sat back and smiled at the cover image of the Runway magazine she was holding, she'd opened the gatefold cover to take it all in, seeing the subjects posed together in a composite image, they hadn't been able to get all of them in one place so they'd been photographed in a range of poses against a variety of backgrounds and Runway's graphic artists had matted it all together into a seamless and quite striking whole.

Fourteen smart, dedicated and quite attractive law enforcement women from coast to coast, it was one hell of a cover, the article inside was even better.

Flipping to the first profile page saw Brenda in a light grey Armani suit and Jimmy Choo heels and wrapped in a classic peach-coloured leather trench coat standing with one hand on the back of a chair and looking to the camera as if she was inviting the reader to take a seat and answer some questions, something reinforced by the challenging look on her face. Natalie smiled at the image, she looked stylish and in control, just fabulous.

She flipped past a profile of a NYPD lawyer she didn't know, Casey Novak, to alight on the one of Sharon; she'd been photographed in a sensational dark navy trouser suit and Balenciaga heels, posed next to a LAPD air wing helicopter out on the pad in the bright LA sunshine. The dark suit worked well against the white and gold and blue of the helicopter behind her, she looked fantastic, one hand resting on the side of the helicopter, the other in her jacket pocket, her face that classic Raydor cool as she regarded the camera, the sunlight catching the auburn in her hair, the photographer had done a hell of a job on them both, which reminded her…

Flipping past a few equally stylish women she came to Maura, she'd been photographed standing in the morgue downstairs next to an examination table, the focus on Maura as she posed with a scalpel in her hand and a questioning look on her face, though Nat could see the amusement in her eyes. Maura was wearing a tailored blue Balenciaga jacket over a white Givenchy knee-length dress, matched with dark blue Prada heels she was the epitome of chic and Nat could imagine women all over America searching out the same clothes to replicate Maura's effortless style.

Sitting back Nat smiled at how her friends had been portrayed, they looked amazing and the timing…it couldn't have been better if she'd begged Miranda Priestly for it in person. With that a realisation came to her and she quickly sat up, reaching for her cell phone; sorting through the contacts she found the one she wanted and placed the first of a long line of calls she realised she'd be making today. A few seconds later the call was picked up by Alexia Marchand of KNBC News.

"Hi Al, its Nat…I'm fine thank you, and you? Oh good….yeah, I didn't enjoy it all that much but what can you do? Look, that's kind of the reason for the quick call, you might want to grab a copy of Runway magazine, the one that came out this morning…yes, Runway…there's an article in it, women of law enforcement, several of the witnesses from the WitSec case here are featured, plus almost a dozen more…yeah, really…they're all smart dedicated women working in the criminal justice system, all of whom might just have an opinion on the case for you…yeah, thought you might like it…each of them has their organisation listed so you can easily chase them up…it just came out this morning…heck, maybe you could approach Miranda Priestly for a quote, she approved its publication after all…the worst she could do is say no…okay Alexia, have a good day…you too…bye"

With that Nat ended the call and smiled, more than a little evilly, before dialling the next on her list, Candace Sin from the local Fox affiliate, KTTV's Studio 11 LA News.

It was going to be a busy morning, but given a chance to shove it to Craven, Peterson, Ling and Cox hard and make it stick, so worth it.

 **In Court**

Half an hour later, once we'd got the usual day's preliminaries out of the way we got down to it. The first witness on the docket was a late entry, Senior Agent Cisco Velasquez was the Bureau agent in charge of Hernandez's debriefing and security; he'd spent more time with Hernandez than anyone and had also overseen the fact checking of everything he'd said.

Andrea had handled the questioning and once she'd got past the initial establishing of who he was, what his job was and why he was here today she got down to the meat of his testimony, Hernandez.

"Agent Velasquez, can you please give us the Bureau's assessment of the validity and veracity of the information provided by Mister Hernandez to the Bureau under questioning?" I smiled at the wording, Andrea liked alliteration and it occasionally came out in court.

"All information that the subject has provided the Bureau has been checked and all has proven to be correct"

"Could you give us some examples please?" He nodded confidently and looked to the jury as he spoke.

"There are currently one hundred sixty two separate people currently in custody across the United States, based on the information provided by Mister Hernandez. Those accused will be tried on crimes ranging from bribery and corruption to drug trafficking and money laundering and on to assault, rape and murder" He looked towards the defence tables and continued. "Adding the defendant's here to the list makes one hundred and sixty nine people on charges" I glanced towards Peterson's table and saw him frowning as he looked for something to object to, smiling gently as he obviously couldn't.

"Could you please give examples of how you confirmed the witnesses' information please Agent Velasquez?" At Andrea's question he nodded.

"When we were first informed of the size and scope of the information that the witness was privy to, a task force was set up to investigate his information. People named were placed under surveillance, in some cases arrested and brought in for questioning, warrants were obtained and suspect's financial records were forensically audited, safety deposit boxes located and examined, that sort of thing" He gave a shrug. "All in all many tens of millions of dollars, the proceeds of illegal activity, were recovered, a number of previously unsolved crimes are now likely to be brought to trial and the actions of the Sinaloa Cartel have been dealt a significant blow" Andrea nodded.

"So the informant and soon to be witness, Mister Hernandez, his memory has proven accurate?"

"Not just his memory, he provided us with remote access to a cloud-based server where a very significant amount of date was stored, allowing us to corroborate much of his recollections" I nodded slowly, that little revelation had been very welcome when we'd heard about it a couple of days ago and I could see the jury following Velasquez's testimony raptly. Andrea swooped on that information.

"Agent Velasquez, based on the information provided by the informant, Mister Hernandez, could you please provide the court with the Federal Bureau of Investigation's position on the information being provided by Mister Hernandez?"

"The Bureau has given the information provided a confidence rating of Very High, which is to say that it is considered actionable evidence that is usable in court and proven to be correct by other verification methods" Andrea nodded.

"So it is good quality then?" Velasquez nodded before replying, the confidence evident in his voice.

"Yes ma'am, the only higher quality is that gathered by Bureau agents directly"

"You've been involved in the interrogation and verification process almost since it started" she asked. "What is your personal opinion?" Velasquez smiled thinly.

"I believe that Mister Hernandez has provided us with correct, honest information, providing everything he knows on the actions of the Sinaloa Cartel, information which we are using to make significant progress against their operations here in the United States" He shrugged. "I believe that given an opportunity to escape the Cartel and start a new life away from their influence, Mister Hernandez has taken the opportunity to unburden his soul by passing as much information as possible to us" Andrea nodded slowly, though we both knew there was no such thing, once he'd been captured Hernandez knew he had two choices, turn informant or die at the cartel's hands as they made sure his knowledge died with him.

"So you believe the information he has given and continues to provide is both valid and verifiable?" Velasquez looked towards the jury; he knew how to work a courtroom too.

"I think the best evidence I can give about how important the evidence Mister Hernandez has is that the Sinaloa Cartel has posted a bounty on his head, $5 million dead, $10 million if he is returned alive" Andrea nodded slowly, letting that figure resonate through the courtroom and beyond, most importantly into the minds of the jurors. Finally she smiled and spoke.

"Agent Velasquez, thank you for giving us your valuable time and even more valuable testimony today" She looked to Craven. "No further questions for this witness your honour" Craven nodded and like me looked to Peterson.

"Defence" Peterson stood and faced the judge.

"I have no questions for this witness Your Honour" Craven nodded and looked to Humphries public defender; he also stood and shook his head.

"Nor from me Your Honour" Craven looked to Vasquez.

"Thank you Agent Vasquez, you are dismissed"

As he rose to leave Andrea and I exchanged a look, it was time for the main event.


	10. Chapter 10

As always, the characters here are the creation of their respective rights holders and the wonderful actors and actresses who bring them to life for us. Thanks for letting us play with them, if only for a while.

 **Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 10** **–** **The Informant**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

I watched as four Bureau agents moved in and took up positions around the courtroom where they could scan everyone; they weren't taking any chances with Hernandez's safety, seeing the agents exchange nods with Mikki, Liv and the two County Sherriff's Deputies on duty in the courtroom.

Once they were set up one of the agents spoke into a radio and Hernandez was escorted in through a side door by another agent who handed him over to a court officer who then guided him over to the witness stand where he sat and was sworn in, even as I noticed the agent remained standing by the side door.

Craven watched it all before looking our way and calling on us to commence. I looked to Andrea and she smiled as we both stood, fishing out a coin and flipping it as I called heads, she caught it, slapping it down on the back of her hand and revealing it, before smiling and sitting, leaving me to undertake his testimony. I'd actually lost the toss but we'd already agreed that I'd handle this first session; just another part of our little act.

Fifteen minutes later we'd gone over the basics, his background, his role with the Cartel, how he'd become involved in this case and so on. We were now onto Kennedy's initial dealings with the Cartel as Hernandez detailed how Sinaloa was approached by Kennedy down in Mexico, not the other way round, and how the cartel required proof that the offer on the table was a genuine one.

"As you can imagine the US authorities try many different methods of entrapment, to try and win the cartel's trust in an attempt to infiltrate their structure" Hernandez stated. "In this case the cartel leaders told me to tell Kennedy that he had to kill a member of another cartel" I nodded and prompted him.

"And did this happen?" Hernandez was quiet but certain.

"Yes" I nodded and nudged him to keep going.

"Who did they direct him to kill?" He was calm but clear.

"A man named Eduardo Castile" I nodded as Andrea clicked away on the laptop to bring an image up on the big screen, the one that appeared showing Castile's California driver's license photo.

"Is that Eduardo Castile?" Hernandez nodded.

"Yes it is"

"Thank you. Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I nodded and asked the obvious question. "Why him exactly Mister Hernandez; why Eduardo Castile in particular given he wasn't a former member of Sinaloa?" Hernandez shifted slightly in his chair as he answered.

"He was a former member of the Medellin Cartel, now retired, but he had made enemies when he was younger, some of whom were now senior members of the Sinaloa Cartel" He shrugged. "I cannot say for certain what their exact motivation was for selecting him, but his name and address was given to me to pass on to Kennedy"

"And did the defendant Kennedy do as the Cartel asked; did he in fact kill him?" Hernandez nodded.

"Yes, he did" Ling's voice cut across the court.

"Objection Your Honor, hear say" I looked across at Ling and then to Craven who looked at me and raised an eyebrow, inviting me to answer. I needed to hammer this home early, establish Hernandez as a reputable witness in the eyes of the jury, given everything we were going to be dropping on them later.

"You were not there were you?" He shook his head.

"No, I was not" I nodded theatrically and followed up.

"How then can you be sure of what transpired?" Hernandez smiled slightly then continued.

"The Cartel's trust no one, naturally therefore they had both Kennedy and Castile under constant surveillance here in Los Angeles, so they saw Kennedy go to Castile's house, Castile come to the door to answer Kennedy's knock, Kennedy show him what appeared to be his badge and then both go inside, shortly thereafter Kennedy reappeared and then left, they continued to watch for several hours then forcibly entered the building to find Castile dead. They left, reported back and were ordered to continue to watch the building but there was no movement. On orders from the Cartel the following day they called in an anonymous tip to the police who found his body and it became a crime scene" Hernandez shifted slightly in his seat then replied. "Our people watched the body being removed; everything was photographed from a distance, photographs that were conveyed to me which I passed to the Sinaloa leadership. Everything was clearly as Kennedy had promised and it was enough to convince El Jefe, the head of Sinaloa, that Kennedy was who and what he said he was. Thus the decision was made by the cartel to employ Kennedy" I stood there, nodding slowly then turned back to Craven, silently asking the question, he looked from me to Ling.

"Objection denied" She sat back in her seat as I turned to Hernandez and prompted him.

"How often did this happen, that they killed ex-Sinaloa members?" He shrugged in that particularly Latin manner.

"As often as he located a former member of the Sinaloa Cartel turned traitor. You have to understand, that is how they were perceived by the cartel leadership, as traitors, worthy only of death" I honed in on that, keeping the spotlight on Kennedy.

"How many of these Sinaloa 'traitors'..." I put the word in air quotes. "…as they were referred to by the Cartel did Sergeant Kennedy actually end up identifying to the Cartel and killing?" Hernandez looked at me and asked a question.

"Just him personally, acting on his own or through the actions of others?"

"Both please" Before he could reply Cox was on his feet this time; objecting.

"Leading the witness" Craven nodded.

"Sustained, Counselor…" I nodded once as Cox subsided and reworded the question.

"For the moment personally"

"In total four that he personally killed" I glanced at the jury, several of whom were leaning forward, rapt, and spoke.

"Who were they?" I asked.

"The names I understand they were living under here were Jose Rodriguez, Hector Garcia, Carlos Delgado and Robert Dimery" Andrea flipped through the images on the screen, one by one revealing the images of the four victims as he spoke, before he held up his hand for a moment then corrected his testimony. "The last two were apparently killed with the assistance of Powell, according to what Kennedy told me" I glanced at Peterson, half expecting him to object to something but he was scribbling on a pad in front of him so I pushed on.

"These are the four victims you just identified Mister Hernandez?" He nodded.

"They are" I glanced at the jury.

"Thank you. Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victims" I turned back to him and continued. "How did you know about the defendant Powell being involved?"

"Kennedy told me" Hernandez shrugged. "He was very talkative, especially when we met in person" I nodded slowly and then pushed on.

"Why did you meet with Mister Kennedy and how often?"

"To pay him the agreed amount for undertaking work for the cartel. We would meet up generally once a month; the location was usually agreed via a phone call"

"And where did you meet?" He shrugged expressively.

"Bars, restaurants, nightclubs, usually in private rooms, places where we would not be seen" I nodded, checked my reminder notes and pressed on.

"I see. Were these five people; Mister Castile and the four former Sinaloa members in Witness Protection the only people killed by Sergeant Kennedy?" Hernandez shook his head once and replied.

"Not at all; shortly after Kennedy started working for Sinaloa, the Cartel somehow became aware of a Juarez Cartel member living here in Los Angeles, Hector Alonzo. Wanting him removed, the cartel paid Kennedy to have him killed" I frowned, all for show, and led him along.

"Is this Hector Alonzo?" I indicated the screen as Andrea flipped to a new image, showing a DMV image. Hernandez nodded and spoke up.

"It is" I nodded a little theatrically.

"Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I spread my hands in a 'confused' gesture and asked my next question. "Why? I mean he wasn't a person Sinaloa considered a traitor, why pay to have him killed?" Hernandez was obviously unfazed.

"Several reasons" He smiled slightly. "I asked the same question and was told that anything that undermined the other Cartels, particularly their operations here in Los Angeles, which was of considerable importance to the Sinaloa, were considered a good thing by the leadership of the Sinaloa. The second reason was that it was considered worth paying to keep Kennedy and his colleagues on our payroll. El Jefe, the head of Sinaloa, thought it vastly amusing to have American police doing Sinaloa's work, especially for such small sums" Hernandez shifted position as he continued. "Finally, and most importantly, Kennedy had an in to the US Government's Witness Protection program, able to identify people within it, something Sinaloa was unable to do. That was considered especially worth paying Kennedy for" I nodded and hammered home the payment aspect once again.

"So they were being paid thirty thousand dollars per murder?" Peterson was on his feet again.

"Objection, leading the witness and supposition" Craven was about to speak when I turned and looked at him but before I could speak Andrea beat me to it.

"If Mister Peterson is going to object to every statement that this witness makes that is prejudicial to his client, we are going to be here for a very long time" Andrea shrugged. "I don't know about anyone else Your Honor, but I'd rather not be here come Christmas" At her words I looked Craven straight in the eye and raised an eyebrow in challenge, seeing if he'd take the bait. He didn't, instead addressing Peterson and the others.

"Defence, you will have your opportunity to cross, until then confine your objections to matters of procedure" I nodded and turned, giving Andrea a slight smile which was returned, seeing Peterson's face flush as he sat down, leaving me trying to hide a wider smile at his discomfort before returning to Hernandez.

"Mister Hernandez, you were saying about the thirty thousand dollars…?" He nodded and picked up the thread.

"That was the agreed amount yes, though if it became a case where they were personally investigated, they were paid more due to the risks they said they were taking" He shrugged once again. "It was considered barely small change so I was authorised to pay it"

"Small change Mister Hernandez" He nodded slowly.

"Indeed Miss Cabot. You have to understand that the Cartels are incredibly rich, the largest five of six cartels control operations with turnover in the billions and returning hundreds of millions of dollars profit to the cartels every year" He smiled. "Compared to those figures, paying Kennedy and his associate's thirty thousand dollars several times a month was considered loose change" I nodded slowly, mostly for the jury's behalf and moved the discussion along.

"I see. So as part of the arrangement Sinaloa arranged for the death of one individual of interest to Sinaloa by Sergeant Kennedy to prove himself, then four former Sinaloa members hidden under the witness protection program, plus another, a Juarez cartel member as well, all of whom he was paid for by the Sinaloa cartel?"

"While there were additional people killed by these police officers, in between the deaths of the four ex-Sinaloa members, that is essentially correct yes" I took a few steps closer to the witness box and continued.

"I understand that it was originally his ability to identify Witness Protection members that brought Sergeant Kennedy to Sinaloa's attention however he and his accomplices soon branched out into other work for the cartel" Hernandez nodded as he answered.

"Yes, as I said, El Jefe was very happy to have police in Los Angeles carrying out executions for him, especially of people Sinaloa could not otherwise locate and said we should keep finding work for them" he said, making me nod and push the conversation on.

"What sort of work Mister Hernandez?"

"Kidnapping and executions of people the Cartel wanted dead" I raised an eyebrow and encouraged him to continue as the jury and media hung off his words.

"You have detailed some of the executions Mister Hernandez, but kidnappings?" He nodded.

"Yes. The first one was initiated by Kennedy who contacted me to say he had the identity of a woman in Witness Protection who had been a bookkeeper for part of the Cartel's drug running and sales operations through Texas. She had gone to the FBI in Texas and handed over a copy of the Cartel's books, who was buying, who was selling, who was being paid to not stop shipments at the border and which police were being paid to look the other way" He gave a one shoulder shrug then continued. "The resulting losses to the Cartel ran into the tens of millions, El Jefe was enraged, the woman's superior was made an example of by El Jefe personally not long after the bookkeeper fled. When I conveyed the name Kennedy gave me to my superiors they became very, very excited and I was told, apparently on El Jefe's direct orders, to have the woman returned to Mexico as soon as possible, as El Jefe wanted to deal with her personally as well" I nodded and continued the questions.

"And you conveyed this to Sergeant Kennedy?"

"Yes, he listened then said it would happen" I nodded for the jury's benefit and continued.

"And it did?" Hernandez nodded.

"Yes, just over a week later Kennedy met me at a location he had specified in Los Angeles, accompanied by two other men I now know as Detective's Farrar and Osmond. He told me they had kidnapped the woman and delivered her to the location to be handed over, still drugged, to the men accompanying me. She was to be smuggled into Mexico and delivered to El Jefe"

Andrea shifted images up on the large television screen set up in one corner, visible to the jury, Craven, the Defence table, the public galleries and thee cameras, bringing up a DMV photo of Adoria Moreno.

"Is this the woman in question, Adoria Moreno?" Hernandez nodded.

"It is"

"Thank you. Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I turned back to Hernandez. "So she was to be smuggled south into Mexico"

"That is correct, it is much easier smuggling items south, far easier than the other way, your border people are not really looking for items going south" I nodded then pressed on.

"Where she was to be killed?"

"Eventually yes; El Jefe wanted to make an example of someone who had cost him so much money, much of what happened to her was carried out under his personal supervision"

"And what exactly happened to her?"

"She was handed over to a long procession of men to be raped, I do not know the exact total number, but it was in excess of twenty" I tried hard to keep my face impassive as I prompted him.

"More than twenty men raped her?"

"Yes" I kept prompting him.

"Who were these men?"

"I do not know the names; just that they were low level cartel enforcers and pimps" That comment had Peterson on his feet immediately.

"Objection, here say" Craven looked at me.

"Counselor?" I flicked that across to Hernandez.

"Mister Hernandez, how did you hear of it?" He was unfazed.

"I was told by one of the men who oversaw the entire process. At El Jefe's orders he selected the men then, when it was over, assisted El Jefe when her punishment at his hands began" I looked back at Craven and lobbed the ball back into his court.

"Your Honour?" He nodded slowly and spoke.

"Objection overruled" I turned back to Hernandez and continued.

"What happened to her then?" Hernandez shrugged as he explained.

"El Jefe then had her tortured, much of it at his own hands, before handing her over to a local butcher to be skinned" Faces across the court and in the jury box paled. The only reason I wasn't one of them was because I'd heard the horrifying story already.

"She was skinned?" Hernandez nodded once.

"Yes, El Jefe had her skinned as an example to others, then she was staked out over an ants nest and left to be consumed" Though I knew what had been done to her, to hear it again from someone who had helped make that happen…

"How did you learn of this?" He looked to the jury as he spoke.

"Images were sent to almost every Sinaloa person of any import, to be shown to every member of the Cartel, as a warning" Andrea typed on the laptop, bringing up a photo of the remains of Adoria Moreno as horrified gasps filled the room.

 **Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office**

"Oh my god" In the quiet of her office Kate Murphy, Chief Medical Examiner for the city of Philadelphia, shook her head. She'd followed the case on a television in the corner of her office as best she could while she worked.

She'd tuned in initially to watch the forensics aspects of the case, while she'd never met Maura Isles, the woman had an outstanding reputation as a forensics specialist and Kate had wanted to get a feel for both the woman and how she presented her work in a court. After all it didn't hurt to learn from one of the best and Megan Hunt, Kate's senior Medical Examiner, couldn't speak highly enough of her work which, given Megan's notorious perfectionist streak, was as good a recommendation as anyone could ask for.

Maura Isles had presented her forensics results, plus testified to the multiple attempts on her life, leaving Kate smiling ruefully; glad her life had been considerably less stressful than the other blonde's. While waiting on the forensics testimony she'd become enthralled by the case as it unfolded, though she wasn't impressed either by the antics of the Defence or the judge's behavior, both being quite frankly disgusting.

Now though she took in the pitiful site of what had once been a living, breathing woman and shook her head sadly. The monster that did that might be out of the reach of justice but those who handed her over to that butcher weren't and she looked forward with grim anticipation to guilty verdicts all around and to hell with the Defence's antics.

 **In Court**

Realising the damage to his clients from the image Peterson was on his feet objecting strongly, Ling and Cox and Humphries defender with him.

"Objection Your Honor, my clients had nothing to do with this poor woman's death" Andrea spoke up from where she was sitting at the prosecution table before Craven or I could.

"Your clients, Mister Peterson, delivered this woman, living quietly here in Los Angeles, to the people who did that to her. I believe your clients had everything to do with it" I chimed in; no way was I going to let Peterson and his clients off the hook on this one.

"Mister Peterson, I'm sure you know the definition of accessory before the fact as well as anyone" Peterson scowled as a whisper of snickers swept the court then looked across to Craven.

"Your Honour..."

"Objection overruled Mister Peterson" Craven stated. "You should know better than that" I shrugged then spoke, loud enough to be heard by everyone.

"Perhaps Mister Peterson should re-read the first year law texts on accessory before the fact" The filthy scowl I got from Peterson was easily worth the admonishment from the bench before he got the Defence to sit down. Andrea smiled encouragingly my way as I got us back on track.

"Is that the image you referred to Mister Hernandez?" He nodded once.

"One of them yes" He shrugged. "There were a great deal more, plus video, that was disseminated to the upper echelons of the Sinaloa and from there throughout the cartel" I nodded and moved on.

"How much was Sinaloa paying to have these officers kill the Cartel's enemies?"

"The agreed rate was thirty thousand dollars for each killing completed" I nodded at Hernandez' reply and pushed on.

"Was that a lot of money for what was being asked? Hernandez made an indecisive gesture with one hand as he spoke.

"For a contract killing yes, especially compared to what the normal price was in Mexico but they were able to get to people that Sinaloa wanted dead, people that they couldn't find otherwise so Sinaloa was prepared to pay"

"But Sinaloa paid them that same amount for killing other people who were not former Sinaloa members, did they not?" Hernandez nodded as he answered.

"Yes. You have to understand, El Jefe was very interested in having a team of local police willing to kill for him. Much the same thing had happened in Mexico and had led to the breakdown of the effectiveness of the police there. El Jefe hoped that the same could happen here" I nodded and glanced across at the defendant's for a moment, seeing them mostly looking impassive though Osmond was staring at the table in front of him while Humphries had a Mona Lisa-ish smile, before looking back to Hernandez.

"But these were only relatively low-level police?" Hernandez gave another of his very Latin shrugs.

"Yes, but they had access to both police records and other police officers details. El Jefe was planning to have them start killing other police" I frowned for the cameras and jury as I asked the obvious question.

"But up until now they had only killed criminals, what made him think they would kill other police?" Hernandez leaned forward to speak clearly into the microphone.

"It was his plan to threaten to expose them, tell them what could happen to their families, plus offer them more money" Hernandez shrugged. "It was a system that had worked elsewhere; he felt it would work here too" He smiled. "Before that happened though they contacted me and asked the Cartel to kill several police; when I conveyed this to El Jefe he was very pleased as they had already taken a big step towards the end he desired, so getting them to start killing other police was simply a matter of time" I nodded and refocused us on the conspirator's actions.

"Mister Hernandez, exactly how many people did Sinaloa, through Sergeant Kennedy, pay to have killed?

"Seven people who were in the Witness Protection program, plus another twenty eight who were not" He grimaced then continued. "Plus a number of people kidnapped and delivered to the cartel who were transferred to Mexico, four in total, most of whom ended up dead" There was a quiet series of gasps from the public gallery, Andrea and I had heard it all before, it didn't make it any less horrifying, just that we'd had more time to process it than most. Peterson however was unfazed.

"Objection Your Honour, here say" Craven turned to us as Andrea spoke up.

"The witness was the one responsible for authorizing payments to the defendants, I think he would be more than capable of recollecting who was paid how much for what services" I nodded in support and looked to Hernandez.

"That was your function, was it not?" He nodded at my question then answered.

"One of them, yes" I turned back to Craven, who frowned then looked to Peterson and waved him back into his seat as Andrea pressed on.

"So thirty nine people in total?" Hernandez nodded.

Yes; that they were paid for. As I understand it there were several others as well. The first person that Kennedy killed to prove he was able to deliver on his promises, plus a prostitute who was killed at the same time as another target" He shrugged. "I was told by Kennedy that she was there when Di Marco killed one of his victims and was, to use the American term, collateral damage"

"Objection, here say" Craven nodded.

"Sustained, the jury will disregard that testimony" I pulled a face then continued on.

"So forty one people dead or kidnapped and likely dead, to the best of your knowledge would those numbers be correct?" Hernandez nodded.

"Yes"

"And at thirty thousand dollars a time, Detective Kennedy was paid just over a million dollars, is that correct?"

"Well over a million dollars actually" I made a show of looking surprised.

"Oh, how so?" In response to her question Hernandez gave a very Latin shrug.

"They were paid extra for cases where they were personally investigated by the police's internal investigators and a special payment of double the usual for kidnapping the Witness Protection woman and returning her to Sinaloa"

"Ah, I see, thank you" I glanced up at the clock, seeing it was almost lunch time, something Andrea had also noticed, we exchanged a glance then looked across at Craven who pursed his lips then nodded, banging his gavel once and speaking up.

"Court will break for just over one hour" The court officer stood.

"This court will reconvene at 1.30 this afternoon. All rise" Everyone did as Craven departed, I turned to see Andrea had risen and walking my way, even as I noticed many of the audience weren't moving, they'd brought sandwiches and weren't budging, they didn't want to lose their seats. Holding out my fist Andrea bumped it, it'd become our 'thing'.

"Good session" At Andrea's words I nodded, seeing the County Sherriff's people escorting the defendants away to a secure holding area. A court officer was there to escort Hernandez out the side door and into the protection of a team of agents; no one was taking any chances with someone who had so many juicy cartel secrets. Instead I watched as Mikki and Liv made their way to join us and escort us out to where lunch was waiting.

"Yeah, it was"

 **Culiacan, Mexico**

"So you are telling me there is no way for us to get to this chingada madre and silence him?"

Pedro Castile cringed internally; telling 'El Jefe' that something he earnestly desired was not possible wasn't a recipe for a long and healthy life for the messenger.

"Not at this point El Jefe, though our agents on the ground continue to try and find a way past the significant security cordon the Americano federales have thrown around the traitor" The cartel lord snorted skeptically then sat back, waving at the screen

"So this pendejo de mierda spills our secrets unchallenged?" Castile looked from the screen to his obviously unhappy boss, surrounded by his cadre of silent, merciless killers.

"I have asked them to redouble their efforts Jefe, the moment they have an opportunity they will strike, silencing the traitor" He mentally relaxed the merest fraction as his boss returned his attention to the screen, it didn't last long. El Jefe scowled and looked back at him.

"Make it happen, I want you see to it personally Castille, understand?" Castile swallowed, then nodded, not that there was any choice. He'd chosen to ride the tiger to his current position of wealth and power, now he had to find a way to stay there and away from the tiger's sharp teeth and claws.

"Si El Jefe"

What else could he say?

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

"That's horrifying" Kate Beckett looked across at her partner and shook her head, understanding exactly what he meant, then gave him her take.

"They're cops Castle, we're supposed to be the sheep dogs, not the wolves" She grimaced. "The actions of those bents cops have damaged the reputation of all of us"

"Well, with Alex and Andrea Hobbs' good work plus the testimony this guy is giving, they're going to be inside a cell for the rest of their lives" Kate nodded grimly.

"It's nothing less than they deserve" she grimaced the continued. "They're lucky California isn't one of the capital punishment states, otherwise they'd all end up meeting the executioner" Castle nodded slowly.

"In a way that'd be a mercy, as it is they're going to spend the rest of their life behind bars, they'll die of old age inside" Kate's reply was uncompromising and harsh as her expression.

"Good"

 **In Court**

Post-lunch we'd reconvened and Andrea had taken over the questioning while I drove the laptop.

"Mister Hernandez, a million or so dollars, was that a lot of money for what Sergeant Kennedy and the other defendants were allegedly doing for Sinaloa?" At Andrea's question Hernandez gave a very Latin shrug then answered.

"No, not really, you have to understand that from the Cartel's perspective they now had police officers willing to kill for them, one of whom already had a drug habit, able to access the Federal Witness Protection program, plus police databases, in a police force that until now Sinaloa had very little success in infiltrating. El Jefe's plan was that if it worked out, he would start putting pressure on the individual officers, looking to see which of them would be willing to kill other officers who the Cartel wanted gone" Andrea nodded slowly then expanded on that.

"Did you anticipate any problems with this plan?" In response Hernandez shook his head.

"No, similar things had happened before, in Mexico, Columbia and other American cities close to the border. It was likely that if the inducement of continued payment wasn't enough, fear of exposure or a threat to their families might be required. He shrugged. "Based on discussions we'd had, I didn't expect too many issues, particularly from two of the officers involved"

"Which officers in particular Mister Hernandez?" He shrugged once more as he answered.

"The man Di Marco and the woman, Humphries" Ling was up on her feet objecting to that.

"Objection Your Honour, the witness has already stated that they had never met either officer" Craven looked to Andrea and spoke.

"Counselor?" Andrea nodded and turned to Hernandez, asking the question.

"How did you come to this conclusion Mister Hernandez?" He looked to Ling as he replied.

"It was based on comments Sergeant Kennedy made to me" She glanced up at Craven and he nodded, making a sit down gesture to Ling as Andrea turned back to Hernandez even as Ling sat dropped back into her seat.

"And what comments might they be, Mister Hernandez?"

"Sergeant Kennedy had expressed his surprise at how cold blooded and ruthless both were. De Marco had apparently killed a prostitute simply because she was there when he killed one of his targets, while Humphries apparently seduced some of her victims, went home with them and then shot them dead, plus she had killed another by poisoning his drink in a nightclub" He shrugged. "People that amoral usually respond well to financial inducements, with few, if any, moral quandaries"

"So it would seem" Andrea said, I mean what else could you say after that?

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

I found myself shaking my head, the depravity of these people, not just the cartel but the cops we'd arrested in Robbery / Homicide, continued to depress me. I glanced up to look out over the squad in the Murder Room, but they were all too busy to notice me, either engrossed in their work or more likely in the trial that was streaming through to their desktops. I spotted Jane shaking her head, probably at much the same thing I was.

Alex and Andrea were doing a great job of building their case, but I was afraid that Peterson and his people hadn't finished with their smears of us yet.

 **In Court**

Day two of Hernandez' testimony and we'd moved on through the long, long list of their killings-for-hire phase. Hernandez had certainly kept meticulous files on his cloud-based server, something that had helped in his recollections of the work he'd paid Kennedy and the others for.

They were so meticulous that I was left idly speculating that he had done so as an insurance policy in case he needed something to bargain with if he ever had to flee the Cartel, something Liv had also wondered at during last night's drive home. It had certainly worked out for him here; he'd escape punishment for his history with Sinaloa and end up with a new identity somewhere safe, probably well paid to allow him a life of, if not luxury then certainly considerable ease. While that offended my sense of justice I couldn't do anything about that but I could make sure that Kennedy and the rest would go to death row until they died of old age. Fortunately his notes were helping ensure that. We were diving back into it after the lunch break as I picked up where we'd left off.

"So we've confirmed that you passed on a Sinaloa request to Mister Kennedy for the death of Manual Luna, of the Knights Templar Cartel while he was in Los Angeles on business, and that he in turn contacted you a number of days later to confirm that he had been killed" Hernandez consulted the tablet he had with him then nodded.

"Yes, five days later" He looked over to where Kennedy sat and continued. "He informed me that his man De Marco had undertaken the killing" I nodded.

"You were convinced?" Hernandez nodded.

"Sinaloa had its sources, not all of which were known to me, including sources within the local media and the TSA, they were able to confirm to the Cartel's satisfaction that a man matching Luna's description had been killed where Kennedy had told me" I nodded, checking the information on the tablet I held, idly wondering how I'd done this so easily back before we'd had tablets, before looking up and confirming what he'd said.

"Yes, that was at LAX, apparently he was followed into a toilet in the concourse and shot four times through the cubicle door with a silenced pistol" Andrea brought up the crime scene photos which showed Luna's body sprawled back against the blood soaked wall of the toilet, then split the screen to show Luna's passport photo as I continued. "Is that Manuel Luna?" He nodded.

"It is" I looked to Craven.

"Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I looked down at my tablet then back to Hernandez. "The victim was apparently followed into the toilet by a man who was captured by surveillance cameras" I tuned to the screen as Andrea brought up video footage, showing Luna walking towards the toilet, being followed by a guy who matched Di Marco's physique but who was unrecognizable under a set of sunglasses, a ball cap and a surgical face mask.

Enough people had taken to wearing them when they had the flu, or were trying to avoid catching it, that most people didn't look twice. Be that as it may, the man followed Luna into the toilet. No more than 20 seconds later he'd walked out and headed off towards the exit, by the time someone raised the alarm the man had got on a bus where he'd ridden two stops, got off and promptly vanished like he hadn't ever existed. I had to hand it to Di Marco; he'd been so slick there'd been no way to connect him to Luna's death, until now.

I looked back to Hernandez and continued. "And with that confirmation you met up with Kennedy and passed thirty thousand dollars to him to be paid to Di Marco for carrying out the execution?"

"That is correct, we met at a restaurant in Malibu, in a private room, where I handed across sixty thousand dollars" I frowned, all for show.

"Why sixty thousand dollars Mister Hernandez?" He smiled at me.

"I was conveying payment for not just that job but another, the last one carried out before they became aware that their actions were under investigation"

"And what was that payment for Mister Hernandez?" He looked back to the Defence tables; to the far end where Humphries sat, isolated from the others by her public defender who sat between her and Osmond and the rest, to where Humphries was watching proceedings with an elbow on the table, supporting her chin on her fist

"Sinaloa had requested the death of a woman of the Gulf Cartel" He checked his tablet then looked up and continued. "Her name was Liliana Flores, she ran prostitutes up from Mexico into California, especially into Los Angeles, to brothels run by associates of the Gulf Cartel" I nodded and checked my own notes.

"I understand that Flores was found dead in a toilet of a downtown nightclub?" Andrea brought up the photo from Flores' passport on the screen as I asked my by now familiar question.

"Is that Liliana Flores Mister Hernandez?" He glanced that way and nodded.

"It is" I nodded in return.

"Please let the record show Mister Hernandez has identified the victim" I glanced back at him. "So did Detective Kennedy undertake the killing of Ms. Flores?" Hernandez shook his head.

"No, I was simply conveying payment to him so that he in turn could pay his colleague Humphries" He shrugged. "In addition to the money I also passed across a quantity of cocaine, apparently Humphries was a cocaine user" Humphries Public Defender bridled at that.

"Objection Your Honour, supposition, based on hearsay" Craven thought about it and nodded.

"Sustained" He glanced at the jury. "Jurors will disregard that line of questioning" I nodded, knowing I'd get to Humphries soon enough.

"Mister Hernandez, Ms. Flores body was found in a female restroom of a downtown nightclub, Jamieson's, where she had been strangled, does that tally with your recollection?" He nodded.

"Yes, that is what Kennedy told me had happened" He looked over to Humphries. "Kennedy told me that Humphries had reported back to him that she had followed her into the ladies toilet and walked up behind her, pushing her into a cubicle and garroted the woman, then walked out and left the club before the body was discovered"

I nodded as Andrea brought up an image taken at the scene, showing Flores body pushed into a cubicle and sprawled across the toilet messily, blood from the wire wound across her throat pooled under her and running across the tiles and down a drain. The court was silent, I mean they'd sat through over thirty descriptions of murder and kidnapping, so they'd had plenty of time to become used to crime scene imagery. That image was replaced by security camera footage showing Flores walking into the ladies, followed by a woman of roughly Humphries' build, but her jet black hair was long and straight with a long fringe, a wig most likely, and she was wearing tinted glasses that helped break up her features, you couldn't really recognise Humphries on camera.

"The footage you are seeing is the last moments before Ms Flores was murdered" I stated for the jury and audience's benefit as both passed under the camera, less than thirty seconds later the black-haired woman exited, the footage cut to another showing her passing straight out the front door and walking away. "By the time the body was discovered the assassin was out the door and two minutes away, she had vanished" I looked to Hernandez. "So the information you ascertained separately tallied with what Kennedy told you, is that correct?" Hernandez looked across to where Humphries was sitting; a slight smile on her face, then looked back to me.

"Yes. The Cartel had confirmed that Flores was dead and I was directed to pay Kennedy the money for that assignment as well, so a total of sixty thousand dollars plus a quantity of cocaine was passed to Kennedy under the understanding that some of the payment and all of the cocaine were for Humphries" I nodded.

"And that was the last assignment that you conveyed to Kennedy, is that correct?" He nodded.

"Yes. The next time we spoke he asked to talk, he needed a number of police silenced, they had come under investigation and he wanted them killed, in a manner that left him and the others with complete deniability" I smiled, that was going to be exceptionally explosive testimony but it was going to have to wait, it was getting late, and turned to Craven. "Your Honour, might I suggest that we halt testimony at this point and reconvene tomorrow, where we will examine the attempts on the lives of LAPD and FBI personnel in greater detail.

 **New York NYPD 16** **th** **Precinct**

It was late afternoon and as it had for the last week, a television set in the corner of the 1-6 SVU squad room was showing the case. Not a whole lot of work was happening as the squad's members watched one of 'their' own, for Alex would always be one of theirs, hammer nails in the defendant's coffins.

"Go get em Teflon" It was Munch as Fin nodded in agreement and spoke.

"Those fools are going down"

 **In Court**

Craven glanced to the clock, showing 5.18 and nodded, banging his gavel.

"This court is adjourned till 9 o'clock tomorrow morning"


	11. Chapter 11

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 11 – Hernandez**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

I'd had a phone call on the drive in this morning from Souza up in Sacramento, the Governor had agreed that Craven's behavior was unacceptable, by which she meant politically damaging, and that Craven would be dealt with, it couldn't come quickly enough for my tastes. On the other hand it also meant that Souza would be calling for her due soon enough but I was just happy to see Craven reigned in, the sooner the better. I'd smiled and finished the call then grinned like a fool before sharing the news with Liv; she'd been just as happy as me.

Once at the court complex I decided to keep things to myself, at least for now, after all Andrea didn't need to know about the politics of it all nor the other quid pro quo I'd negotiated. Better she could focus on the trial and sending Kennedy and the others away for good, as for the bit about me replacing Annesley; well we'd cross that bridge when we came to it.

We'd had our morning coffee before heading down where we dived into day two of Hernandez's testimony. This morning's session dealt with the attempts on our friends lives; Andrea was leading us off today and began with the train of events that saw assassins being sent after them.

"Mister Hernandez, as I understand it you were contacted by Mister Kennedy and that he told you he had a problem?" Hernandez nodded once as he replied.

"That is correct"

"Could you please inform the court what transpired" Hernandez nodded and leaned forward, the better to be heard.

"Kennedy called me on my cell phone and demanded that we meet urgently to deal with an issue that had cropped up. As it happened I was in Los Angeles and given he seemed quite agitated, I arranged to meet him as soon as possible" Andrea nodded and encouraged him to keep going.

"And what actually emerged when you did meet up with the defendant, Mister Hernandez?" He settled himself and looked towards the jury as he started.

"We met at a café in a shopping centre in downtown Los Angeles, Kennedy was somewhat agitated, he reported that he and his cohorts were under close and specific investigation and that he needed the investigating officers dealt with so that he and the other officers he had co-opted could continue their work with Sinaloa" Andrea nodded,

"And by dealt with he meant killed?" At her clarification Hernandez nodded easily.

"That is correct" he said as Cox rose to his feet.

"Objection your Honour, inference and supposition" I glanced his way, the objection seemed a bit _pro forma_ to me, but it wasn't like they had much else. Craven looked to Andrea who shook her head.

"The statement will be clarified by both the witness and the surveillance tape Your Honour" Craven nodded and spoke, his voice harsh.

"It had better be counsellor, it had better be. On that basis you may proceed" Andrea turned back to Hernandez as Cox sat back down.

"Exactly whom did he ask to have killed Mister Hernandez?"

"Commander Raydor and Deputy Chief Johnson initially" He shrugged. "Once I explained that I would have to talk to my superiors but that they would almost certainly agree, he expanded the list to include four other women, the one's I now know as Doctor Maura Isles, Detective Jane Rizzoli, Agent Anastasia Romanov and miss Natalie Dearing" I glanced at Peterson and his crew but they were silent, given they knew what was coming I wasn't surprised.

"I understand that a price of twenty five thousand dollars per person was agreed?"

"Yes, the money being subtracted from the next missions that Kennedy and the others did for Sinaloa, to cover the one hundred fifty thousand dollars cost that he willingly agreed to" Andrea nodded.

"Mister Hernandez, we have a recording which we would like you to listen to, if you and the rest of the court would turn your attention to the screen" At that Peterson stood and spoke up.

"Objection Your Honour, it is the Defence team's understanding that the recording the Prosecution intends playing was illegally obtained and is thus inadmissible" Craven looked to Andrea.

"Is this true?" Andrea shook her head, obviously confident.

"Most definitely not Your Honour, I personally obtained a warrant to conduct surveillance on the activities of then-Sergeant Kennedy before surveillance measures were put in place, Judge Lopez signed the warrant request prior to this conversation being recorded" Craven leaned forward.

"Given the significant assertion made by the Defence, can this warrant be produced?" At that I smiled; we'd expected something like this and had done our prep work. Flipping open a folder I pulled out a certified copy of the original warrant we'd obtained from Lopez' people and walked it over to him.

"Your Honour, the People submit into evidence a certified copy of the original warrant, signed by Judge Lopez and authorising physical and electronic surveillance on the defendant Kennedy and a number of the other defendants" I handed it across then turned and walked back to my seat, smiling a little nastily at Peterson as I did. ' _Suck on that_ " As I sat Craven looked up, having skimmed the warrant, and then having handed it to the court officer to be entered as evidence looked to Peterson and spoke.

"This warrant is in order, the objection is denied. Prosecution may continue" Andrea smiled.

"Thank you Your Honour" As I was saying before Defence counsel so rudely interrupted, we have a surveillance tape we wish to play…" That was my cue. I had the audio file already set up, all I had to do was hit play in the media player tab, sending the record of Hernandez and Kennedy's meeting out across the court. For the next few minutes their conversation echoed across the deathly silent courtroom, I could see the impact on the jury, the audience and could imagine the effect across America.

 **Chicago CPD Intelligence Unit**

Erin Lindsey looked across to her partner Jay Halstead; they were doing paperwork on a recent bust in a quiet office, well away from most cops and the attention her appearance in Runway had attracted. Some had been cool, others not so much, despite the brass all the way to the top signing off on it.

The dress and jacket she'd been wearing had been totally professional, the heels maybe a little too high for police work, but the hair, makeup and photography had transformed her into a stunning woman, one that most cops had never imagined lurked under her no-nonsense exterior. She'd got tired of the come-ons, the jokes, the flirting and the propositions from way too many guys and even one or two girls, so she was keeping a low profile, working away in this spare office. Well they were supposed to be working but they'd been distracted by the coverage of the trial.

They listened, a chill stealing over them as the recording played of the cartel man and the crooked cop bargaining over the cost of having six law enforcement people executed, the sheer business-like manner of the negotiations appalling in and of itself, let alone what it was supposed to result in. Finally Jay spoke.

"Jesus, that's a conviction right there, they can't get off after that" Erin pulled a face before replying.

"So far that only connects Kennedy to the cartel guy, they have to have more if they're going to convict all of them" Halstead nodded

"I hope so, those cops are everything that's wrong with fighting the cartels, too much money washing through them, it allows them to find people to corrupt" Erin nodded grimly.

"Though in this case it seems like they were all only too happy to sell out to the cartels" Jay suddenly smiled.

"Won't do them any good, after all money's no good if you can't spend it and not too many shopping sprees on death row" Erin thought about it for a moment then asked a question.

"California doesn't do capital punishment right?" Jay looked thoughtful for a moment then shook his head as he replied.

"Pretty certain they don't" She nodded slowly then spoke

"Then they have the rest of their lives to pay for what they've done" At that Jay smiled wolfishly.

"Oh yeah, for decades to come" Erin looked a little pensive before a determined look set on her face.

"Then that'll have to do I guess"

 **In Court**

The silence in the court after the recording finished was deafening, looking across the faces of the jury I could see at least half of them were looking at Hernandez, trying to match the urbane, polite and well-dressed man in front of them with the easily recognised voice cold-bloodedly arranging murder on the tape, while the other half were staring at the Defence tables, Kennedy to be specific, who looked down at his hands clasped on the table in front of him. Andrea let it drag on for a good ten seconds before she spoke up.

"Well…" She turned to face Hernandez. "You recall that incident Mister Hernandez?" He nodded.

"I do indeed" he said as Andrea nodded.

"What were your thoughts at the time?" Hernandez frowned for a moment then replied.

"That while this was not a good situation and that it would require work to solve, it would also advance Sinaloa's plans for these officers, to make them their tools for undermining the Los Angeles Police Department" Andrea nodded and coaxed him on.

"In what way advance them Mister Hernandez?"

"They were asking to have police officers killed, obviously they were not adverse to the deaths of their fellow officers, to have their blood on their hands so to speak, so the likelihood of them being willing to kill other officers was very high, with the right inducements they were ready to become Sinaloa's tools within the LAPD" Andrea looked pensive for a moment, then went off on a bit of a tangent.

"What was Sinaloa's plans for these officers, what did they want them to do?" Hernandez shrugged.

"While I was not privy to all of El Jefe's plans, I was told that they would be tasked to find out the identity and personal details of the entire LAPD drug squad" Andrea nodded.

"Basically attempting to publicise and thus undermine the effectiveness of the drug squad" Surprisingly Hernandez shook his head at her statement.

"You misunderstand me Miss Hobbs" He smiled grimly. "They were to be identified to Sinaloa and they would send teams after them, as has happened in Mexico, to deal with them" Andrea was stunned, this was something we hadn't heard before, something that came out in her voice.

"To deal with them…?" Hernandez' voice was calm despite the gravity of what he was saying.

"Teams of killers Miss Hobbs, Sinaloa wanted the identity of every officer in the LAPD drug squad so they could all be killed; it was El Jefe's intention to wipe out them all, as quickly as possible, hopefully over one single night, leaving the police's ability to hinder Sinaloa's drug activities in tatters and to send an unmistakable message to the LAPD, that this showed that Sinaloa could strike anywhere at anyone"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Robbery / Homicide**

"Oh my god" I shook my head in my silent office then looked up to see my team were staring at their computer monitors, as transfixed as I was by the trial. A few seconds later my phone rang, it was Brenda. "You saw?" I asked as she unconsciously repeated my words.

"Oh my god Sharon…" She was silent for a few seconds. "The implications of what they had planned…" Unconsciously I nodded.

"It would turn into a war between the Cartel and the LAPD, except Sinaloa already had agents inside the Department willing to kill for them" I felt sick, they'd been so close… "We dodged a bullet there honey" Brenda's drawled reply was darkly amused.

"Quite literally"

 **In Court**

"Objection Your Honour, irrelevant to this case and rampant speculation at best" Craven thought about Peterson's objection for a moment then nodded.

"Objection upheld, the jury will disregard that line of questioning" Andrea nodded and visibly pulled herself back on track, as I belatedly realised Mikki had come up through the drug squad, hence Andrea's interest, before she turned back to Hernandez.

"What happened after that meeting concluded Mister Hernandez?" At Andrea's question he sat back.

"I left the building then called my superiors in Culiacan and explained the circumstances. They felt it was appropriate to provide the assistance requested, as it would enmesh Kennedy and the others even more into Sinaloa's debt, making it easier to manipulate them in the future" Andrea nodded slowly and then pressed on.

"I see; what then?"

"I let Kennedy know that Sinaloa would deal with the problem and flew back to Culiacan that evening where I learnt the assassins for the mission had been selected" He shrugged. "An address was needed for all the targets; fortunately Kennedy was able to supply addresses for each of the women he desired dead, so we were able to brief the assassins on the targets and send them on to Los Angeles" He looked over at the Defence table. "Based on the information supplied by Kennedy, it was anticipated that the mission would go smoothly, with the women dead and appropriate clues left pointing to either a robbery gone wrong or an attack by a street gang"

Andrea gave that a moment to sink in with the jury and the audience, before turning to face Hernandez.

"That however is not what happened am I correct?" Hernandez nodded once then replied.

"The attack did not go as planned and they were captured"

"What happened there, Mister Hernandez?" He shrugged before responding. .

"I know more now, but at the time they did not report back after informing me that they were setting out on their task" he said then shook his head before continuing. "Given there was no news I suspected they had been killed trying to undertake their mission, however late the following day I was made aware via a law firm that Sinaloa retained here in Los Angeles for various legal matters, Guzman, Santiago and Associates, that they had been captured and were being held by the LAPD for questioning"

"And what then transpired?" He settled back in his seat.

"I arranged for Kennedy to be informed of what had happened and that we would need to consider another option" He looked to Andrea and continued. "It was seen as a minor setback, after all no one expected the two men arrested to talk to the police, given it was expected that they would be charged with minor offences such as a failed robbery and would either serve a minor sentence or possibly, as it was both men's first offence in America, be potentially charged, fined and released" He shrugged. "Unfortunately for Sinaloa they did talk, telling the LAPD everything, as part of which they identified me, leading to my arrest as I attempted to cross the border back into Mexico"

"Yes, I understand you were arrested down in San Diego and transported back to Los Angeles?" Hernandez nodded once as he replied.

"That is correct"

"What happened when you were returned to Los Angeles?" Hernandez shifted in his seat before answering.

"I was questioned by Deputy Chief Johnson of the Los Angeles Police Department, amongst others. It was they who informed me that I had a choice, I could continue to work for Sinaloa or I could take the opportunity the LAPD and the Federal Bureau of Investigations were offering, which was to walk away from Sinaloa and work with them" He shrugged blandly before continuing. "My choice was obvious and here we are"

I carefully smothered a snort, having seen the recording of that encounter and spoken to Brenda and Ana I realised Hernandez had cut a deal, not out of altruism but to save his skin. When Brenda had pointed out that Sinaloa having him killed in prison was a cheaper option to ensure his silence than defending him in court and, given that immunity for him was on the table to buy his cooperation, Sinaloa would surely move to make sure he stayed silent, permanently. Needless to say he'd seen the inescapable logic in that pretty damned quick, Ana's offer of a deal from the Bureau including placing him in, ironically enough given what had transpired, the Witness Protection program, had been enough for him to roll over and sing like a canary, trading his vast knowledge of Sinaloa and its operations for a comfortable new life and new identity.

"Your arrest prevented any further actions or attacks by Sinaloa against these officers did it not?" Andrea asked, drawing a nod and an answer from Hernandez.

"Yes, I had been the point of contact between Sinaloa and Kennedy and through him, to the others, he had no one else to contact" Hernandez shrugged. "He perhaps could have tried to contact Sinaloa directly, as he had done once before by travelling to Mexico, but events here in Los Angeles moved too fast for that" Andrea nodded and turned to face the jury.

"So, to sum up, you acted as the point of contact between Sinaloa and the defendants, paying them at least thirty thousand dollars a time on behalf of the Cartel for the murder or kidnapping of people of interest to Sinaloa, is that correct?" Hernandez nodded.

"It is" Andrea nodded and pressed on.

"Once the defendants had established that they could find and kill former Cartel members located within the Justice Department's Witness Protection Program here in Los Angeles, Sinaloa got them to branch out and undertake killings of other people that Sinaloa wished killed, is that also correct?

"It is" Andrea turned to look towards the Defence tables.

"And that their activities grew to include kidnapping as well as murder, encompassing almost forty victims over a period of less than two years?"

"That is also correct" Andrea spun on her heel and faced Hernandez.

"And that when the actions of a number of dedicated Los Angeles Police Department investigators placed their activities under threat of exposure, the conspirators reached out, through you, to Sinaloa, to have those officers killed?" Hernandez nodded.

"Through Kennedy yes, that too is correct" Andrea waved at the Defence tables as she continued.

"Mister Hernandez, can you confirm that of the seven defendants' on trial here today, you personally met three, Kennedy, Farrar and Osmond, and were told of the direct involvement of Di Marco, Humphries and Powell in the murders carried out on behalf of Sinaloa?" Hernandez leaned forward to reply.

"That is correct; the only defendant that I did not know of by name was his sister. He had told me he had a contact in Witness Protection, but not their name" Andrea nodded slowly, satisfaction evident in her face as she hammered the last nail in place.

"One last question Mister Hernandez, just one" She glanced towards the jury. "Can you confirm that it was Sinaloa's objective to have these officers commence murdering fellow officers and facilitating Sinaloa's undermining of the effectiveness of the LAPD" Hernandez leaned forward to be heard clearly through the microphone.

"Yes Miss Hobbs; that was indeed Sinaloa's objective" Andrea stood there, judging the jury's mood before nodding slowly to herself.

"Thank you for your candour, your clarity and your cooperation Mister Hernandez" I smiled at her alliteration, an occasional habit of hers, as she turned and inclined her head to Craven. "We have no further questions for this witness Your Honour" With that she turned and walked back to our desk, I held my fist out and got a fist bump in return as I smiled.

"Great session" I got a smile in return as she sat.

"Yeah, it was" Craven meanwhile had looked to the Defence tables then at the clock, it was 12.21.

"Defence, your witness, however given the time, I will call an early adjournment for lunch. Court will reconvene at 1.30 and you may commence your cross at that time"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Federal Bureau of Investigations Liaison Office**

The phone ringing distracted Ana Romanov from where she was watching the trial in her small office in the Parker Centre. The office she'd been given as the Bureau Liaison Officer was what could be charitably called small; it was big enough for a desk for her laptop, a chair on each side of that desk, a filing cabinet, a small lockable safe and not much else. She didn't mind though, she spent most of her day out and about, meetings, talking to people, coordinating with departments across the LAPD, the office was just a place she went to when she had nowhere else she needed to be right that moment.

It also gave her a place where she could shut the door, have a moment's privacy and get her thoughts in order, something she had found herself doing more often in recent days as the trial unfolded. After the depressing mess that had been her testimony, she'd watched them go after Jane the same way, then after Maura as well. She'd watched the others give evidence, silently cheering them on, scowled bitterly at Peterson's antics and felt sick at Craven's behaviour.

She'd been there when Andrea and Alex had worked with Nat, coaching her to be ready for Peter's slime-ball tactics, watching Nat defend them all against Peterson's smears had left her feeling proud as anything, her other half had been amazing and, in her, admittedly biased opinion, done a hell of a lot to undermine Peterson's gutter-filth insinuations.

Now though she watched as the court stood as Craven left, the coverage crossing back to the network's expert panel. Hernandez' evidence had been crucial in establishing the guilt of Kennedy and Di Marco and the rest, but she was under no illusions that the Defence would do everything in their power to undermine his testimony; she'd just have to put her trust in Andrea and Alex.

Her cell's ringing dragged her attention away as she saw the name there, 'Gibbs: Leroy', drawing a smile as she answered.

"Gibbs, how are you, enjoying the Washington weather?" His voice came down the line.

"It's the usual crap but you get used to it" Ana nodded at that.

"I did, eventually, but I like the weather a lot better out here"

"I bet, all that hot weather" Gibbs paused, then pushed on. "I've been watching the trial…" Ana nodded understandingly. "…and I saw you get blindsided by the Defence so I did some digging" Ana frowned, then realised what he meant, that personal evaluation report.

"Yeah, that came out of nowhere; I thought I was supposed to get notification before it was released?"

"You were, but the records people sent a formal notification by mail to the most recent address they had, which was an address in Seattle" Ana closed her eyes and groaned in sheer mortification, then explained.

"Damn, we had a mail redirect running for six months, while we notified everyone, but that's now past and I screwed up, I must have missed Army records"

"Yeah, I saw it and asked some questions, it looked a little shady when I first saw it but it was just a standard bureaucracy snafu" Ana shook her head, though she smiled at the thought that Gibbs would look out for her, he was a good guy, then replied.

"In this day and age you'd think they'd send a message via email…" Gibbs' reply was quick.

"You'd think, but this is the military personnel records bureaucracy we're talking about, hardly the most technologically innovative organisation at the best of times" Unconsciously they both smiled at that description before Ana spoke.

"Thanks for looking into it, I had no warning and it shocked the hell out of me"

"Yeah, I saw it live on cable and thought I should make a few enquiries" Ana's smile widened.

"Aw, you watched, I'm touched" The snort she got down the phone was pure Gibbs.

"Well, not so much you, but all your good looking friends" Ana rolled her eyes then smiled as she spoke.

"Too bad none of them will touch you with a ten foot pole Gibbs, wrong chromosome and all:"

"Damn, always knew there was something wrong with the world" Ana smiled, tossing one of Gibb's old sayings back at him.

"Nah, that's just institutional paranoia, everyone has that"

"A bit of an occupational hazard in our line of work" he said, drawing a nod from Ana as she replied.

"Yeah, it sure is" Ana changed the subject. "When are you coming out here, Nat says she likes meeting people from my past, though I think she just likes hearing the embarrassing stories"

"I've got a few of those I can tell, though I'm actually coming out there in a bit over two weeks to catch up with the people in the LA office" Ana smiled and nodded at that piece of good news.

"Yeah, I've met Kensi Blye a couple of times at interagency stuff, and worked with her on a gun-running investigation a couple of months back, she's a good operator"

"Yeah, that's one of the reasons I'm coming out, look over the crew and talk to a few of them about their career progression, the next posting, that sort of thing" Ana nodded, that was Gibbs, he looked out for his people.

"We'd love to catch up, I'll even cook" She could hear the smile in his voice.

"That's an offer too good to miss, I get to watch you work for a change while I sit on my ass and tell embarrassing stories to your better looking half" Ana's response was quick but lacked any heat.

"Fuck you man" Gibb's amusement was audible down the line.

"That ain't gonna happen, like you said, wrong chromosome" They shared a chuckle.

"Life's a bitch isn't it?" Ana said, getting an unconscious nod from Gibbs as he replied.

"That it is. Anyway, I have a meeting I have to get to, but I wanted to fill you in on the background to your personnel file going public, plus give you a heads up that I was going to be in LA"

"Thanks Gibbs, I appreciate it. Give me a call when you have a date and we'll arrange something"

"Good to chat Ana"

"You too Leroy, be well"

"You too" With that the call ended, leaving both participants smiling before they turned their attention to other matters.

 **In Court**

I watched as Ling stood, wearing her trademark severe black pants suit and stiletto's, the suit had leather lapels while the skinny cut accentuated her slim figure, and made her way into the centre of the floor as I watched carefully, she was Peterson's razer-sharp rapier, as opposed to his bludgeoning club, Cox.

"Mister Hernandez, you claim to have been happy to cooperate with law enforcement officials, is that correct" Hernandez nodded.

"It is"

"Let's be honest here, you only walked away from Sinaloa because you'd been caught and Agent Romanov offered you a better deal" Hernandez tipped his head to regard Ling as he spoke.

"Whilst I was not expecting to be arrested at the border, having crossed it regularly without issue many times previously, I was offered a chance to start a new life by turning my back on my old one, a choice I was pleased to make" Ling raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

"And start a new life with the slate wiped clean of any previous crimes you had committed" Hernandez shrugged.

"A part of the process was providing a complete explanation of the crimes I had committed up to that point in my life, I was fortunate that as I had spent much of my time with Sinaloa as what you might call a middle manager in the cartel equivalent of administration, I had been somewhat isolated from the more extreme actions of the cartel"

"If you wanted to escape the cartel why didn't you just walk away when you were here in Los Angeles?" Ling probed deeper as we watched and waited.

"Counsellor, Sinaloa and the other Cartels have extensive connections, I was a Mexican citizen, here on a Mexican passport; how would I be able to just walk away as you put it when I could not legally work here in America?" At Hernandez' words Ling shrugged elegantly.

"Millions of others have done so over the years, with tens of thousands more joining that exodus each year" Hernandez smiled tightly.

"Very, very few of them have a drug cartel after them for turning traitor counsellor, even fewer have a multi-million dollar price on their head, that reality changes things somewhat" Ling ignored that and pressed on.

"Why not just go to the police yourself? Turn yourself in?" Hernandez nodded once.

"A valid point, however you have to understand the perception of the police that most people in Mexico have, that the police are not to be trusted, that they are corrupt and riddled with Cartel sympathisers and agents" He shrugged. "That makes going to the police a very dubious proposition at best, one to be avoided if possible"

"But you said that…" Ling checked her tablet. "…that Sinaloa had very little success in penetrating the LAPD" she looked up. "Why not go to them" Hernandez shook his head.

"Sinaloa had indeed penetrated the LAPD Counsellor, hence our presence here today" Ling nodded once and turned away from that.

"Ignoring that irrelevancy, why not go to the LAPD Mister Hernandez, or even the FBI?" Hernandez gave a very Latin shrug.

"The image of many US police forces is not the best south of the border. The belief is that they are unsympathetic to minorities, particularly blacks and Latinos, something that the ongoing series of well-publicised police beatings and shootings have done nothing to dispel" Hernandez shrugged. "When your own citizens and politicians are regularly televised marching to protest the shootings of minorities in cities across America, well that hardly engenders confidence in approaching them, not just as a Latino, but as a senior Cartel member, as you can understand counsellor"

"But you had something to trade, information for security" Ling said as Hernandez nodded slowly.

"That is true, but approaching the police is a terrifying option, it runs counter to everything that Mexican's have learned in their dealings with the police. A foreign police force, one that has been publicised for its issues with minorities, one that Sinaloa already had agents placed within; it did not seem such a valid option"

"You were looking for a better deal, immunity wasn't it?" Ling pressed as I waited, wondering where she was going with this.

"I did not expect it, so when it was offered, and more importantly it was explained that the Cartel's agents within the LAPD had been arrested, making it significantly less likely the Cartel could strike at me that way, I accepted the immunity on offer" Ling jumped on that.

"So the women here in Los Angeles, Johnson and Raydor and Romanov, they offered you immunity in return for supporting their claims against the unjustly accused defendant's…"

"I was offered immunity yes, and part of my testimony was on what had transpired with Kennedy and the others" Ling nodded as Andrea stood to interject.

"Your Honour, the principle and the practice of immunity from prosecution is well known, far too well known to have to repeat here" I stood beside her to back her up.

"And the decision to offer the witness immunity was not taken by either Agent Romanov, Chief Johnson or Commander Raydor, no matter what the Defence would have you believe to the contrary" Andrea shook her head at Ling as I continued. "That decision was made at the highest echelons of the FBI and the Justice Department in Washington, Agent Romanov, for reasons I'm sure we can all understand and appreciate, was a reluctant conduit at best of the offer to Mister Hernandez" Craven thought that over for a moment then nodded.

"Objection upheld; the Jury will disregard that line of questioning. Counsellor, another tack" Ling nodded and turned back to Hernandez.

"Mister Hernandez, how many people did you kill while working for the Sinaloa cartel?" At that I stood.

"Objection Your Honour, what exactly does this fishing expedition have to do with the evidence pertaining to the matter before this court?" Craven looked to me and then back to Ling.

Defence?" Ling was unfazed.

"Your Honour, we seek to understand the nature of the crimes this witness was absolved of by the Prosecution in their frantic hunt for anything they could use against my clients" Andrea stood up and spoke.

"If your clients hadn't approached Sinaloa to act as their paid assassins then we wouldn't be having this conversation" Ignoring the dark look that appeared on Ling's face Andrea turned to Craven. "It also seems as if Counsel is becoming increasingly hard of hearing, it has already been established that the decision to grant immunity was not one undertaken by any of the officers investigating the defendant's crimes here in Los Angeles, but in Washington" She shrugged. "As for the prosecution offering immunity, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office had no involvement in that decision whatsoever" Ling wasn't taking that lying down.

"Your Honour, we seek to identify the crimes undertaken by this witness, crimes that have been glossed over by the Prosecution as they rush to convict my clients of crimes they didn't commit" I smiled and shook my head, all for the camera.

"Not just deaf, but dumb too" I muttered, loud enough to probably be picked up by the media pool sitting behind me and probably the television cameras too then continued. "Your Honour, the Defence seems to have forgotten that, as my colleague so recently pointed out, the rationale for conferring immunity from prosecution is well established, to allow lesser crimes to be absolved in order for greater crimes to be solved and the perpetrators of those crimes to receive the punishment they so richly deserve" I looked to the jury. "That is what the people seek to prove here Your Honour, that the defendant's capital crimes be prosecuted and they are sentenced for their crimes"

Craven looked thoughtful for a moment then shook his head.

"Under the circumstances, I will allow the Defence to pursue this line of questioning, but if I believe it is wandering too far from relevance to this case I will stop it" He looked our way. "Understand?" We both nodded as Andrea spoke.

"Yes Your Honour" Ling smiled.

"Thank you Your Honour" She turned to Hernandez. "Please answer the question"

"I was recruited into the cartels as a boy" He shrugged. "As was common in the poorer parts of Culiacan where I grew up" Ling regarded Hernandez coldly and pressed harder.

"And what did you do for the Cartel?"

"I was initially a lookout for Cartel activities that the police might try and disrupt, then as a foot soldier of the cartel, like so many others, as I grew older I was used for more senior and important roles, I did them efficiently and Sinaloa continued to employ me"

"What sort of roles?" Hernandez shrugged at Ling's question.

"I was used as a messenger between elements of the Cartel in different cities, then later, having demonstrated a level of initiative, as a courier, carrying messages and items between Sinaloa and other cartels" Ling nodded.

"A position of trust it seems" Hernandez nodded in return then replied.

"I had given them no reason not to trust me, I had performed my assigned tasks quickly and professionally" Hernandez smiled a little sardonically. "In addition, as I'm sure you realise, the cartels have many, many very effective methods to ensure loyalty"

"Speaking of which, the cartels have various loyalty rites I understand, most involve killing someone to prove loyalty am I correct?" Hernandez nodded once.

"That is correct counsellor, Sinaloa required a blooding, that is you must kill a member of a rival cartel, they must die at your hand" He nodded. "Before you ask, yes, I killed a member of Los Zetas in a knife fight, he left me with several scars, I left him dead, If I hadn't he would have killed me without hesitation" Ling brushed past that.

"Was that the only person you killed for Sinaloa?" Hernandez sighed.

"No, I was involved in several gun battles with rival cartels in the years that followed, and before you ask, I am aware of three other people who I shot during those times that died, either partly or wholly because I shot them" He shook his head. "I was eventually promoted out of being a foot soldier to a new role where I acted as a courier and go between with other cartels, I did that efficiently and was trusted to do more senior work, liaison with politicians, businessmen, corrupt police and lawyers, more and more of my work was that, to the point that I had little to no direct contact with the Sinaloa street level activities anymore" Ling nodded.

"And you corrupted police and lawyers Mister Hernandez?" He shook his head.

"That was usually handled by others, once they had agreed to work for Sinaloa I was used as their conduit to Sinaloa, passing on messages and tasks to the contacts, and paying them off as required"

"Had you corrupted people here in California before?" Hernandez shook his head.

"As I explained, that was not normally my role; that fell to others. I was their contact, messages passed from them to Sinaloa and back, through me each way" Hernandez leaned forward. "Sinaloa employs people like me in the same way your Central Intelligence Agency does, as handlers for strings of agents, people who work for them embedded in other organisations hostile to America, or in this case Sinaloa" Ling frowned, she obviously didn't like that analogy.

"But your actions were nothing like that of the CIA, it attempts to make the world safer by its actions, whereas the Sinaloa cartel's actions have the diametrically opposite effect" Hernandez nodded agreeably.

"Obviously not everyone would agree with your interpretation of the CIA's actions; I was only comparing the two organisations in so much as the role I played was similar to that of someone in the CIA who also acted as a liaison officer" Ling wasn't letting go.

"Your actions led to misery and death, here in Los Angeles and elsewhere did it not?" Hernandez nodded.

"That was the result of Sinaloa's actions, yes"

"Your actions you mean?" At her words Andrea spoke up.

"Objection your honour, the Defence is attributing motivation to the witness when the witness was following orders" Ling smiled broadly as she shot back.

"Ah, the defence of the Nazi's at Nuremburg, that didn't work out so well for them either did it?" Andrea shook her head and looked to Craven.

"Your Honour, the witness has confessed to the crimes he has undertaken on behalf of Sinaloa, crimes which have, as much as possible, been verified by the FBI. No one here, least of all Mister Hernandez, is denying those crimes; the Justice Department, weighing up the balance between Mister Hernandez' previous crimes and the valuable evidence that he had on the operations of Sinaloa, made the determination to offer him immunity in return for his testimony" She looked to Ling. "I understand that the Defence would like to whitewash the evidence that has been heard from the witness about the actions of their clients, but that is not a decision they get to make"

"Your Honour, the witness has made a large number of uncorroborated statements regarding our clients, given the weight the Prosecution is placing upon that untested evidence, we feel more than justified in digging into the background of their star witness" Andrea shrugged.

"While Mister Hernandez evidence is compelling, I would have thought the tape of their client's making the decision to have the investigating officers and their partners killed, and then negotiating with their Sinaloa contact to have the job done, was the star witness as she puts it" Ling shook her head angrily.

"Cross examination is the heart of our system of justice, subjecting the evidence and the witness to the test to ascertain the truth of the matter" Andrea nodded smoothly.

"None would dispute that" She turned to Craven. "Your Honour, no one is attempting to deny Defence their chance to cross, as they have indeed stated, that is a key component of the American justice system. That said however is it too much to ask Defence Counsel to stick to the crimes committed and on trial here today; that is those committed by her clients?" Craven frowned for a moment then looked to Ling.

"Counsellor?" She turned to face him.

"We seek to determine the veracity of the witness and their testimony, given they were promised immunity and a new life in return for assisting the Prosecution to convict the defendant's on these trumped up charges. As part of that we feel it is imperative we understand the motives of the witness and the nature of the crimes they committed as part of their being granted immunity" Andrea shook her head.

"No one is denying the Defence's their rights however we are trying seven men and women on a range of capital crimes, those committed within this court's jurisdiction. The Defence seems bound and determined to dig into actions taken years ago and far outside the scope of this trial and the jurisdiction of this court, all in an attempt to dispute, denigrate and deny the evidence being considered" She shrugged. "Must we delve back into the witnesses' school records to determine if they were a model student? Of course not, for it has no bearing on the matter's being held in Your Honour's court" She spread her hands wide as she finished. "We simply ask that their cross be related to the crimes being heard in your court and the evidence presented, not spurious fishing expeditions"

Craven was silent for a while, looking from Ling to Andrea and back then nodded slowly, looking to Ling.

"Defence will restrain themselves to the witnesses' actions as they pertain to the subject of this trial" Ling frowned for a moment then nodded.

"Yes Your Honour" It wasn't like she had a whole lot of alternatives. As Andrea sat back down we exchanged a look and a small smile; if Ling was restricted to the specifics of the case, then she had almost no chance of undercutting Hernandez' evidence.

That made it a win in my book.


	12. Chapter 12

As always, the characters here are the creation of their respective rights holders and the wonderful actors and actresses who bring them to life for us. Thanks for letting us play with them, if only for a while.

 **Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 12 – T** **he Tide Turns**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

Court was late getting started, we'd cooled our heels for almost an hour beyond the usual starting time before we were allowed in; the court officer eventually calling on us to rise as Craven walked in and took his seat, tossing Andrea and I sharp glance before banging his gavel as we sat.

"Defence will rise" Peterson looked confused for a moment then stood, along with his team and Humphries' publically-appointed defender though the question was directed to Peterson.

"Counsellor, is it your assertion that the attacks on these officers, carried out by their assailants, whoever they might be, were motivated by their sexual orientation?" Peterson frowned for a moment then shrugged.

"It is possible Your Honour" Craven peered across at him.

"Can you prove your assertions here in this court, with conclusive evidence Counsellor?" Peterson's frown deepened as I realised what was happening and fought hard to keep the smile off my face.

"Not conclusively Your Honour, not at this time" Craven looked like he'd just sucked a lemon.

"I will take that as a no then" Peterson looked like he was about to say something when Craven cut him off. "Is it your assertion that the sexual preference of these officers had a bearing on their conduct of this investigation?" Peterson shrugged.

"It may have Your Honour" Craven frowned darkly as I happily nodded to myself; it appeared the long-awaited 'message' had finally been delivered and his attitude had been appropriately 'adjusted'.

"May have won't cut it Counsellor. Do you have any evidence you can produce in this court to that effect Counsellor?" Craven speared Peterson with a look then continued. "A yes or no answer will suffice" Peterson suddenly looked pained.

"Not at this time" Craven nodded once as Andrea shot me a 'what the hell' look while I struggled to remain impassive, now was not the time to be seen grinning happily.

"Do you have any concrete evidence whatsoever that you can produce in this court right now that these officers' sexuality played a part in this case?" Craven levelled a finger at him. "Once again a yes or no will suffice" Peterson spoke as painfully as if he was having teeth pulled.

"No Your Honour" Craven nodded once and sat back, regarding Peterson like a scientist examining some kind of specimen.

"In that case if I hear any more from you suggesting sexuality played a part in this case, I will happily declare you in contempt. Do you understand me?" Peterson nodded slowly, reluctance in his voice.

"Yes Your Honour" Craven's voice was pure acerbity.

"Then sit down, we have a trial to conduct and you've been wasting my time" Seeing Peterson dropping back into his seat, I turned to Andrea and exchanged a small smile as Craven cleared his throat, catching our attention.

"Prosecution" We both stood. "Proceed with your case" We both nodded as Andrea spoke.

"Thank you Your Honour" As I sat down I mentally high-fived, we now had a level playing field.

 **New York The offices of Runway magazine**

Miranda Priestly sat back at her desk and allowed herself a little smile, taking in the television reporter who was reporting in that breathless style some affected for breaking news.

"Sensational developments in the court this morning as presiding judge Craven put Defence Attorney Conrad Peterson on the spot, before dismissing several areas of the Defence's ongoing attacks on the credibility of the investigating officers. We'll be crossing to our legal experts to discuss what this means for the case after this short break…"

Raising an eyebrow she allowed a small thrill of dark satisfaction to run through her before she spoke, her voice a gentle susurration.

"That is all"

 **In Court**

We had chipped away at the defendants all day, starting with the lesser lights. Farrar had sat there solid as a rock, limiting his responses to one word answers as much as possible, a couple of times he'd refused to answer, shielded by Peterson and the others as much as they could. To be honest I didn't mind all that much, his shifty behaviour was doing our job for us with the jury; you could feel their patience wasting away with each and every evasion and denial. To be honest, after Hernandez' three days of testimony, it seemed the majority of the jury had already made their mind up, though a couple might still be on the fence, maybe.

Hopefully our next witness might help sway the few remaining doubters. He was apparently a church-goer, one of the fire and brimstone evangelical Christian ones, and wanted to clear his soul before he faced St Peter's judgement, or something. I'd wondered about how someone who claimed to be a pious Christian could have ended up doing what he'd done but at least he was prepared to talk.

"The Court calls Anthony Osmond to the stand"

Once he was settled Andrea began leading Osmond through the evidence, starting with how he had been recruited.

"They approached me at a bar one Friday night, we'd just lost a case, the suspect was guilty as hell but he'd got off on a technicality, we knew he was guilty but he'd got off scot-free and we were all pretty pissed about it" He shook his head. "That's when Gerry, Sergeant Kennedy, started talking to me about maybe there were other ways we could make some of these guys pay" He looked around the room, wetting his lips before continuing on. "I wanted to know what he was saying, was he talking about being a vigilante or something, but he'd said no, instead he said he did some PI work that helped close some cases, helped the victims bring civil cases against criminals, getting them some kind of restitution and maybe closure too. He said he had more work than he could handle and wanted to know if I was interested in some investigations work that paid okay and I said yeah sure" Osmond shrugged. "And that's how it started" Andrea smiled.

""Thank you Mister Osmond, let's now talk about the jobs that Mister Kennedy asked you to undertake" That was my cue, I pulled up the laptop; I'd lost the toss and was on image management duty this morning.

"Yeah, I got asked to do some surveillance of a guy named Luis Rivera" That was my cue and I brought up the first image, revealing a booking shot of Rivera, taken a couple of years before his death.

"Is that Mister Rivera?" Osmond nodded.

"It is" Andrea glanced at the jury

"Please let the record show Mister Osmond has identified the victim" She looked back at him and moved them along. "What exactly was it you were requested and required to do by Mister Kennedy?" I smiled slightly at her alliteration as Osmond answered.

"He told me he needed surveillance done on this guy; that he'd been involved in a crime but had got off and the victim's family was trying to get a civil suit against him, so they asked me to conduct surveillance on him, across a weekend" Andrea nodded.

"And you did so?" Osmond nodded.

"Yeah, me and Luke, uh…Detective Farrar, we did 8 hour shifts on and off, switching with each other, we did this from Friday night to late Sunday night" He shook his head. "Didn't see much of anything, but we reported back to Gerry…Sergeant Kennedy, on Monday and he seemed happy enough, even though we didn't have much to report, no visitors, Rivera didn't go out much, still he was happy with what we had to report"

"And you were paid for your time by Mister Kennedy?" Osmond nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, $100 an hour cash" He looked sheepish. "I thought it was good money, I didn't know what was going to happen" Andrea pounced on that.

"What did you think when you learned that Luis Rivera had been murdered, along with his wife Gabriella?" At that cue I changed the image on the screen, showing autopsy shots of Luis and Gabriella Rivera, they'd both been shot to death, the bullet hole in Gabriella's forehead easily visible, according to the case file it suggested that she may have been on her knees, begging for her life maybe, when she'd been killed.

Osmond shook his head. "I didn't hear about that till months later and to be honest I didn't put things together till even later" Andrea turned on him at that statement.

"And why was that Mister Osmond?" Osmond shrugged at Andrea's question.

"I suppose I thought that maybe Rivera's past had caught up with him, he was supposed to be involved with a drug cartel at one point, I thought maybe something had gone wrong and he'd wound up dead" He shook his head. "It wouldn't have been the first time. Nasty people, nasty habits, y'know?" Andrea tipped her head to regard him as she continued drawing the information out of him.

"Indeed, and how much of this surveillance did Mister Kennedy ask you to undertake?" Osmond shrugged.

"One or maybe two times a month usually, sometime more, there was no schedule, just when he had a case" He pulled a face. "That's what he called it, a case. When I asked he said he was doing some private investigator work on the side" Andrea nodded and turned slightly to take in both Osmond and the jury.

"I see. At what point did you start to suspect an ulterior motive for their actions?" He sat back and was silent for a few seconds, finally looking up.

"We'd been asked to conduct surveillance on a guy, he was flying in from Mexico, we were to follow him and work out where he was staying and who he was meeting with" Andrea nodded.

"Please go on Mister Osmond" He nodded.

"Anyway we located the guy, we were told his name was Miguel Sanchez, and trailed him to a downtown hotel where he checked in using the name Jose Cordoba though it later turned out his real name was actually Juan Cervantes, he was a courier for the Juarez Cartel" I pulled up another image, showing the photo of 'Miguel Sanchez' passport. Andrea took a few steps forward and spoke.

"Is that the man you were asked to follow, Miguel Sanchez, AKA Juan Cervantes?" Osmond nodded.

"It is"

"Please let the record show Mister Osmond has identified the victim" Andrea looked back to Osmond. "What happened then Mister Osmond?" He shook his head.

"Once we'd identified where he was staying we contacted Sergeant Kennedy and he told us that we'd done our job and we could wrap up. I was kinda confused, but Luke was cool, said it was easy money for a few hours' work. Anyway we did and headed home. On Monday morning I was going through the weekend's reports when I noticed that a Miguel Sanchez, AKA Jose Cordoba, had been shot and killed in his hotel room late on Saturday night" I clicked to the next image on the computer, showing a crime scene image of Cervantes body sprawled partly across the bed in his room.

"What did you do then Mister Osmond?" Andrea asked.

"I talked it over with Luke, he wasn't bothered by it, but we agreed we'd go and see Sergeant Kennedy. He took us out for coffee, together with his partner, Aiden Powell, and explained that the guy was a druggie, he'd probably got involved in a drug deal that went sour"

"And you accepted that explanation?" Andrea questioned. "Awfully coincidental, and rather convenient don't you think?" He nodded.

"Yeah, I was a bit suspicious but I let it ride, until it happened again" Andrea tipped her head to regard him.

"Yes, what happened there?" Osmond shifted in his seat before replying.

"Arturo Padilla, a mid-level La Familia Cartel drug distributor wound up dead, we'd done surveillance on him less than two days earlier" I sorted through the images, bringing up the autopsy image of Padilla and sending it to the screen as Andrea confirmed with Osmond that was him.

"How did you learn of this Mister Osmond" He shrugged.

"I had misgivings; I mean it had happened twice now, so I started setting up alerts in the names of the people we were running surveillance on, when Padilla turned up dead I talked it over with Luke and then we went and talked with Kennedy. He arranged for us to go to lunch that afternoon with him, Aiden Powell, Tony Di Marco and Julia Humphries" Andrea nodded theatrically.

"And what was discussed at that meeting?" He looked over to the Defence benches then over to the jury.

"They were kinda cagy at first but over the course of an hour they realised that we'd figured out what they were doing. They told us they were working for a rich benefactor, someone who wanted criminals off the streets, especially the ones that seemed to be getting away with what they were doing" He shook his head. "It was BS of course, as I found out later, but we were all tired of druggies and other criminals getting off on technicalities, so when he sold us his story about getting the scum off the streets I was kinda not too unhappy about it" He looked to Andrea. "I didn't know about the Sinaloa connection back then or the WitSec people at all. Anyway Luke was all for it, especially the cash, and pushed for me to go along with him in it so I said okay"

"So you continued to conduct surveillance for Mister Kennedy?" Andrea asked, getting a nod. "On exactly how many people did you undertake this surveillance, in effect identifying people for later murder" Osmond flinched at her phrasing but answered.

"Twenty one" Andrea nodded.

"But you did not restrict your actions to just surveillance did you?" Osmond shook his head as Andrea continued. "Let's talk about the kidnapping of Adoria Moreno, who was living under the name Carmen Ortiz here in Los Angeles" I saw Osmond wince at that.

"Yeah, that" Andrea pushed him a bit.

"You were asked by Mister Kennedy to kidnap her and deliver her to a specific location were you not?"

"Yeah…right, we were told to collect her from her house and deliver her to a parking lot in an industrial area in West Anaheim" He shook his head. "I didn't know her background; I was just told her name was Carmen Ortiz and that she had fled Mexico" Andrea shook her head for a moment then spoke.

"What on earth possessed you to go along with this? I can understand the surveillance, after all that was a quasi-legal activity, but a kidnapping?" He hung his head for a moment then spoke.

"Yeah, I was told she'd absconded from her family back home, that she was a runaway bride and both family's wanted her back in Mexico" He looked up and shrugged. "On reflection it seems like a weak story but by that time I'd sorta been sucked into what he wanted"

"In what way exactly was that Mister Osmond?" At her question he looked up at Andrea, his expression full of regret.

"I'd pulled a lot of surveillance time for him as part of this P.I. thing he was supposedly running, I was getting paid a neat $100 per hour to watch people and establish patterns of behaviour; I'd watch them for a couple of nights and sometimes on weekends, reporting back to Kennedy, I'd be paid in cash and week or two later he'd have me start watching someone else" Andrea crossed her arms and regarded him for a moment before speaking.

"And you didn't question his requests?" Osmond shook his head.

"I suppose I should have, but I was happy with what I saw as earning good money doing stuff that mostly helped people, or so I thought"

"And that included kidnapping individuals?" Osmond shifted uneasily in the witness box.

"Yeah, that should have waved a red flag, but it didn't. Luke was all for it, especially when Gerry said there would be a lot larger pay packet involved" He shook his head slowly. "Maybe I should have said no but I needed the money and I had sorta drifted deeper into it, to the point where stuff I would have questioned before I started doing jobs for him, that I should have questioned, I didn't" He looked up at Andrea for a moment. "Yeah, that's on me, I messed up" Andrea didn't let up on him as she stood watching, hands held behind her back.

"And you went along with this?" Why?" Osmond shook his head.

"Like I said, I was already in deep, I was getting paid, good money, which went a long way, so when he offered us a lot of money for grabbing her, I said yes"

"How much money did you consider 'a lot of money'…" she put it in quotes. "…Mister Osmond?"

"Fifteen thousand each" Andrea turned and looked at the jury.

"Thirty thousand to kidnap a woman and hand her over to Mexican drug smugglers for torture and execution" She turned back to Osmond, her voice harshening. "What the hell were you thinking?" He seemed to shrink in on himself, requiring Andrea to prompt him. "Mister Osmond?"

"Objection" It was Cox who stood, looking to Craven. "Badgering the witness, who clearly was not aware of the fate planned for this woman" Craven was all over that one, shaking his head as he spoke.

"Objection overruled, the fact that witness was not aware of the victim's ultimate fate does not excuse them of their role in enabling the death of the victim" He looked to Andrea. "Proceed"

"Mister Osmond?" she prompted, getting Osmond's attention and raising one eyebrow. He looked to her and shook his head slowly, his voice pained.

"That's just it, I don't know. I just went along with it, they asked and I did it, so honest to god I don't really know" Andrea nodded sadly.

"So it would seem"

 **Miami**

Horatio Caine had stopped at a cafe to grab a coffee on his way back from an interagency meeting, his attention grabbed by the television showing the case in Los Angeles. He'd kept abreast of the case of course; it was hard not to given the absolute shit fight that had blown up in the media about the whole gay cops thing. He didn't give a damn about whoever they were screwing, that was their business and as long as it didn't get in the way of their job, well who the hell's business was it?

These crooked cops though, that was something else again. On an intellectual level he understood the dangerous attraction of saving the state a trial and just ending criminals permanently, the temptation to be judge, jury and executioner; every cop did at one time or another, but that was a slippery slope that led into the maelstrom that was the situation in way too many countries south of the border.

On one hand he could appreciate the situation this cop, Osmond, had found himself in, sliding down the slope from something legal to less legal to outright criminal. But being paid to kidnap and kill people for the cartels…Jesus, that crossed every red line in the book, and that was before they'd apparently tried to have fellow cops killed too.

He accepted his coffee from the barista with a nod, glancing up at the television and shaking his head ruefully once again as he headed out.

Nope, they could go to death row with his blessing.

 **In Court**

Andrea's viewpoint

Kennedy was on the stand this morning and Alex Cabot was stalking him like a tiger eyeing off her next meal.

She was interesting, back when I'd heard she was coming out to LA to join us I'd contacted people I respected in the profession who knew of her and all I'd heard was that she was good. A little too passionate if anything, but I wasn't going to mark her down for that, passion was as important for a successful prosecutor as it was for an investigator. All the best ones had it, Mikki had it in spades and under that ice-blonde mask Alex had it too.

Back in New York when she'd first arrived she was supposed to be on the fast track to political office, passing through the NYPD's sex crimes unit, a valuable tick in the box on the way to the DAs office and beyond when something happened. The reasons varied, some said it was she got lost in the cases they handled, someone else said it was the woman she'd met there, her now-partner Olivia Benson, they'd gotten involved and she'd been side-tracked into staying at the unit. Whatever, she'd amassed a fearsome reputation amongst New York's criminal defence fraternity, no one really wanted to go up against her, she'd left a string of destroyed reputations and equally-shattered ego's in her wake.

Then she'd got on the wrong side of a Columbian drug lord, almost died in a drive-by and ended up in witness protection for years. When that had ended I'd been told she'd spent almost a year working her way back through the system into working with Benson again, before taking a stint with the UN, investigating and prosecuting African war criminals. Finally returning to New York it was obvious she'd given up on making it into political office, instead returning to the sex crimes unit where she'd amassed an amazing record, setting new record conviction rates year after year. New York's loss was definitely our gain and I have to say I'd never regretted my decision to have her work this case with me.

She'd stood there side by side with me as we'd started down Craven, she was senior enough and definitely experienced enough to have been senior chair on this case but she'd never once shown any sign that she was unhappy being my second chair, instead from day one she'd thrown herself into prosecuting Kennedy and his cohorts with a passionate relish I admired.

If...no, when, we sent them to death row, I could happily say that it was because we'd both given 110% to prosecuting them, and we deserved equal credit for it. I'd happily share a case with her anytime.

Now though she was stalking Kennedy, the look in his eyes was wary, as well it might be. I could tell Alex was getting frustrated; she'd been hammering away at him for over two hours but it seemed every other sentence out of his mouth was some variation on 'I can't remember'. It wasn't particularly advancing our case but on the other hand I could tell the jury wasn't impressed by his evasiveness and general demeanor either, nor was Alex.

"Well Mister Kennedy, let us turn our attention to more current events; perhaps your remarkably poor memory might prove more useful with current matters" She referred to her notes on her tablet before returning it to the table and walking closer to the witness box. "Let's turn our attention to your most recent officer involved shooting incident, one Robert Dimery" Kennedy shifted in his seat as Alex skewered him with a look. "You do recall that incident do you not Mister Kennedy?" He nodded once.

"Yeah" Kennedy seemed to have come to the conclusion that saying as little as possible was the best defence; idiot. Alex's smile was razor sharp and dangerous.

"Wonderful, perhaps your memory is making a much welcome and long overdue return after all" She took a couple of steps towards him and continued. "You claim that you received an anonymous tip off that a series of robberies of convenience stores was the work of one Robert Dimery, is that correct?"

"Yes" Alex nodded slowly.

"Can you explain why no record of this anonymous tip was ever recorded Mister Kennedy?"

"No" Nodding, a little exaggeratedly, Alex pushed on.

"That seems to be a common trait does it not Mister Kennedy? I mean we have no record of any of the so called anonymous tips that led you to the deaths of Dimery or any of the other three people you and your partner killed" I glanced over at the Defence tables but Peterson didn't try objecting to that. "Can you explain how you received these anonymous tips Mister Kennedy?" He shrugged.

"Couple of ways, anonymous phone calls, rumors passed on by informants, word on the streets, the usual" Alex pounced on that.

"The usual, an interesting choice of words Mister Kennedy, as there are no records whatsoever of these tip offs or their sources"

"That's because they were anonymous" Kennedy smiled. "That's kinda what anonymous means" Alex nodded.

"Indeed it does, but these take anonymous to new levels, no records, no information on which street informants passed on these rumors, nothing in the incident logs which are supposed to have everything recorded, nothing for later use in a trial as evidence. In fact nothing other than the word of you and your partner that these so called anonymous tip offs occurred in the first place" Kennedy was stony-faced.

"That's what happened" Alex cocked an eyebrow at him as she spoke, her voice carrying a trace of mockery.

"I'm amazed, given how patchy your memory's been today that you can even recall that much" She threw a 'long suffering' look at the jury and then turned her attention back to Kennedy. "I suggest that there was nothing recorded as you had not received any such tip off, instead you went to Robert Dimery's apartment with the sole intention of killing him, another in the long line of people you had been paid to do so by Sinaloa" Cox pushed himself to his feet.

"Objection Your Honour, supposition" Alex shook her head at him.

"You're honestly going for that after what we've heard over the past few days?" Her mouth twisted into a mocking smile. "You really must be on a pay by the day rate" Craven's gavel rapped once.

"Objection denied. Prosecution, I will not tolerate personal attacks on counsel, understood" At that I felt like either bursting out laughing or maybe being sick, given what he'd previously let Peterson and his team get away with. Maybe now he'd rediscovered his ethics he was bending over backwards to prove how even handed he was, or something.

"Of course Your Honour" Alex turned back to Kennedy. "Your description of what happened inside Mister Dimery's apartment is completely at variance with the evidence, both on the scene and the forensic evidence, how do you explain that discrepancy" He shook his head.

"I don't know, I told people what happened, the forensics and the evidence must have been faked up cause that wasn't what happened"

"Really, 'faked up' you say, why would that have happened? Who would have done such a thing, all to make you look like a scapegoat?"

"Raydor, she hated us regular cops, everyone knew it" He looked towards the jury. "Everyone knew she got off on ruining ordinary cops who'd had to shoot to defend themselves, she hated us" Alex shook her head then gave him a little more rope.

"And why would she hate you Mister Kennedy? Why would she do such a thing?" Kennedy glanced at her then looked to the jury.

"Because she hated Taylor; my boss in Robbery Homicide; everyone knew she and her dyke girlfriend Johnson hated him, they both wanted him screwed over, I was just collateral damage" Alex tipped her head to regard him, one hand resting on her hip as she watched him for a moment, before laying into him again.

"So you suggest that evidence was faked at the crime scene to cast doubt on your testimony?" Kennedy nodded as he replied.

"Yeah, cause that wasn't what actually happened" Alex looked to the jury and not incidentally, one of the camera's and shook her head before continuing.

"Then how do you explain the forensics evidence not supporting you either Mister Kennedy?"

"The M.E., she's a friend of Raydor, she must have been in on it too" The look on Alex's face was pure skepticism, so pure you could have bottled it.

"Does this include her predecessor, Doctor Morales, who carried out the autopsies on your previous victim's as well?" She smiled; all sass and teeth. "Back before Doctor Isles had even contemplated leaving Boston for Los Angeles?" Kennedy pulled a face and said nothing, just giving a half-shrug. Alex shook her head again and shared a look with the jurors before pushing on. "So it was all a conspiracy, one designed to make you look guilty so these so-called conspirators could cast blame on your superior, Commander Robert Taylor, is that what you are suggesting?" Kennedy shrugged.

"Yeah, must've been cause that ain't what really happened in that apartment" Alex stood in the middle of the area in front of the jury and crossed her arms as she regarded Kennedy, finally she shook her head as she spoke.

"Well I have to congratulate you Mister Kennedy, you've come up with a conspiracy theory to rival any of the 911 or Kennedy conspiracies, all because you were the supposed victim" She shook her head pityingly and glanced towards the jury. "It's amazing really how so many people must have had it in for you" She started ticking off her fingers. "Commander Raydor and the entire Force Investigation Division, Doctor Isles and before her Doctor Morales, plus their entire forensic team and the crime scene photographer who apparently changed all the imagery to support the conspiracy, with Photoshop I presume" The look she threw the jury was more amused than anything, getting a few smiles in return. "The bullets that came from your gun must have been placed into specially-drilled holes in the apartment's walls to support the conspiracy and they must have filled up and painted over the holes you said were made when Dimery fired at you which were never found, all in all a remarkably complex and convoluted conspiracy with the express intention of framing you Mister Kennedy" Alex looked towards him with a questioning look on her face. "All that, and it happened at an incident that just happened to be one where you had no record of the anonymous tip that sent you there" She reached up and removed her glasses as she looked at him.

"Mister Kennedy, do you have any idea of how incredibly ridiculous all of that sounds, honestly?" Kennedy had obviously decided to double down on stupid.

"I'm telling you that's what happened" Alex nodded slowly then spoke, her voice dripping with condescension.

"Of course you are Mister Kennedy, never let it be said that you don't stick to your story, no matter how far-fetched, indeed nonsensical it might be" Kennedy muttered something under his breath as Alex smiled and slid her glasses back into place. "Indeed Mister Kennedy, your story seems remarkably consistent across all the Officer Involved Shooting's you've had, you and your partner Aiden Powell. In each case it was an 'anonymous' tip…" She put it in air quotes. "…that led you to a person who just happened to be a individual in the Justice Department's Witness Protection program, who just happened to end up dead at your hands and which you now claim was some kind of frame-up by everyone involved in investigating those incidents" She shook her head. "So we don't have one conspiracy, we have four separate ones" Perhaps wisely Kennedy said nothing, drawing a resigned look from Alex that she shared with the jury as I smothered a smile, Alex was good, very good at the theatre of the courtroom,

I'd already picked up a few of her tricks and was looking forward to using them myself, though her use of her glasses should have been registered as a deadly weapon, given the uses she put them to. She took them off for emphasis, slid them back on with a flourish, polished them to denote resignation, slid them down her nose in disbelief, adjusted them constantly, waved them around the court when someone said something ridiculous, used them to point at the witness when she was making a deliberate point and, according to Mikki who'd seen them in use, her lover Olivia turned to mush when she used them to her advantage on her, they were indeed an all-purpose accessory.

"I will grant you that there is something very, very suspicious about these four shootings Mister Kennedy, there may indeed be four separate conspiracies Mister Kennedy, however the conspirators are you and your partner Aiden Powell, they have your prints all over them, the same M.O., an anonymous tip off, of which no record exists I might add, leading to a dead victim, shot in 'self defence'…" she put it in air quotes. "…that just so happened to be a former member of Sinaloa who was now under Witness Protection right here in Los Angeles" She looked to the jury and spoke to them. "I've heard of coincidences but this stretches the concept beyond breaking point straight into the realm of the utterly ridiculous" She smiled at the jury then spun back to Kennedy.

"Honestly that would be farfetched, in fact quite frankly unbelievable, even without the other testimony we've heard in this courtroom in recent days, when you combine that testimony with the evidence, the conclusion is well-nigh overwhelming" She paused for a second but both Kennedy and his team were silent. "You orchestrated the deaths of those four Witness Protection protectee's Mister Kennedy, conspired with your partner, Aiden Powell, to hide what you had done and were paid blood money from Sinaloa to do so, something you did not once, but four times Mister Kennedy" Kennedy sat there, not saying anything, probably wisely as Alex was on a roll.

"Nothing to say Mister Kennedy, or has your memory failed you once again?" She spun to the jury. "Mister Kennedy's memory seems as patchy and full of holes as the fairy tales he has tried to spin about what happened in those killings, all evidence to the contrary" She looked back to Kennedy and shook her head before making an aside to the jury. "With a memory that bad, it's a wonder how he ever made Detective, let alone Sergeant" she shrugged. "Though it's obvious standards in Robbery / Homicide weren't all that impressive in the first place, given the conduct of six members of that team" She smiled happily. "I cannot wait to speak to the head of that team, the aforementioned Commander Robert Taylor, I have no doubt that should be more than interesting" I couldn't restrain my own evil smile at that thought.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Parker Centre**

Commander Robert Taylor watched the television set up in the corner of the tiny office he'd been allocated since he'd been stripped of his role as head of Robbery / Homicide and dumped in this bull shit job he'd been stitched up with, liaising with the LAPDs suppliers of K9 recruits and horses for the mounted squad.

At that dyke lawyer's words he grimaced, he sure wasn't looking forward to his being called to give evidence, no way in hell. He had no doubt she'd try and paint him in the worst possible light, suggesting he'd looked the other way while they'd been doing their dirty work for the cartel; her and Hobbs both actually, not that he should be surprised, they were both part of the same man-hating lesbian witches' coven that Johnson, Raydor, Dearing and the others were all part of, looking to screw him over. They hated him for being the sort of man he was, a man's man; not some wimp rolling over like a well-trained poodle in the face of their attempts to manipulate the LAPD to their liking.

He watched as that woman from New York, Cabot, kept hammering away at Kennedy. He thought Gerry was playing it smart, saying as little as he could, even though it was obvious as hell he was guilty as sin, they all were, the evidence was too conclusive, leaving him wondering at the façade they'd maintained. The remainder of the Robbery / Homicide team had gathered over a beer not long after the arrest of Kennedy and Humphries and the others and talked it over, none of them had the slightest inkling that their former colleagues were living a double life, not just selling out to the cartels, but offing people for them.

If he'd had more introspection Taylor might have wondered if he'd only seen what he wanted in them, rather than what was there. Instead he rationalised it that they were all good liars and then put that aside, instead concentrating on what he saw as the most important thing; his upcoming appearance in the witness box and what effect that might have on his chances of getting his career out of the shit hole he'd found himself.

At least he could console himself that he had his pension, so he could retire at any time, and with the way all those dykes were running the show, that mightn't be a bad thing, before they completely took over.

 **In Court**

"So you not only managed to co-opt your partner, Aiden Powell, into your murderous activities, you eventually spread your activities wide enough, acting as Sinaloa's assassins for hire here in Los Angeles, that you felt the need to bring in other accomplices, in the case Tony Di Marco and Julia Humphries" I watched as Alex smiled, albeit without any trace of humour this time. "You must have been pleased with how they turned out, they seemed to be even more cold-bloodedly ruthless than you and Powell" She shook her head before continuing. "Between the four of you, you got so busy you decided you needed some assistance doing the leg work, the surveillance needed to identify your victims, confirming their location and habits for future killing" Alex glanced over at the defence tables and shook her head before turning back and continuing.

"And didn't your new co-conspirators turn out to be just what you wanted? Anthony Osmond and Luke Farrar turned out more than willing to help you continue your mass production line of murder, scouting out your future victims while being paid crumbs. And when you needed dirty work done, kidnapping Adoria Moreno, amongst others, they were happy to do so" She shook her head at Kennedy. "You must have been so proud of them all"

"Objection Your Honour, supposition" Craven nodded at Ling's interjection and spoke.

"Sustained, the jury will disregard that inference" Alex nodded as Kennedy remained stubbornly silent so Alex turned and regarded the defendant's, arrayed in a line, from Powell at one end to Humphries at the other, slowly pulling off her glasses and massaging her eyes for a moment, as if weary or in pain, then straightening up.

"I have to say Mister Kennedy; I have prosecuted so much criminal filth over a decade in the NYPDs Special Victim's Unit. Rapists, child molesters, murderers, pedophiles, sex slaver's and so many more, but rarely have I been forced to bear witness to so much cold, calculating and conscienceless criminality as I have here" She shook her head again and turned back to Kennedy, glasses held in one hand which she used to point his way. "And we have you to thank for it all, well you and your sister, but you were the one that made your way to Mexico and reached out to Sinaloa, offering to parlay her stolen information into murder for hire" She looked to the jury and sighed.

"The witness took the information his sister provided and bargained with Sinaloa to become a paid assassin, then corrupted five other members of the Los Angeles Police Department into joining him on Sinaloa's payroll' She threw the Defence tables a glance and a slow head shake then continued. "Kidnapping or killing almost 40 victims wasn't enough for them, so when their activities were threatened with potential exposure, they had no hesitation in agreeing to the murder of fellow officers" She slipped her glasses back on, deliberately and slowly then continued.

"The witness agreed to a price for the death of six fellow law enforcement members and it was only by sheer good luck and good police work that multiple attempts on their lives were foiled" One arm came up, outstretched and pointed at Kennedy as she spoke to the jury. "If he had succeeded make no mistake, Kennedy and his conspirators would still be out on the streets, still carrying out murders and kidnappings for Sinaloa, as we have heard earlier, likely some of them of other police officers" Her arm dropped and she stood there for a second before continuing, her voice changing, becoming slower, less urgent.

"What they have done is unconscionable, a betrayal of their oaths, their fellow officers and the law, happily tossing all of those aside for thirteen pieces of drug-tainted silver, their litany of betrayal's shaming Judas while indulging in a catalogue of murders for hire" Alex turned to face the jury square on, crossing her arms and speaking in a slower, lower voice.

"Speaking personally, as the partner of a police officer and a criminal prosecutor of many years' experience, I am quite frankly sickened by what they have done and what they tried to do, to their victims and their would-be victims, their fellow officers" She shook her head, her expression grim, then turned to Craven, looking him straight in the eye. "I'm more than done with this witness Your Honour"

With that she turned and walked back to our desk as murmuring started throughout the courtroom, prompting Craven to tap his gavel and call for silence. She sat down beside me as I turned and looked at her, getting a nod and a fist bump from her as Craven called on Peterson to cross, giving him the impossible task of somehow trying to salvage Kennedy's credibility and reputation. I smiled, a little sardonically, ' _better him than me_ '

 **New York 1PP**

Casey Novak sat back in her office as the city outside grew dark, it was getting late in New York but she'd wanted to see Alex go to town on Kennedy, instead of her usual fire and brimstone though she'd been very different than she'd expected, something the legal expert on the cable network's 'panel was commenting on as well.

Her manner had been almost resigned, as if she was over the defendants and all their works, she'd hammered away at Kennedy for several hours, his continued refusal to answer questions making him look more and more guilty, not just in the eyes of the jury but for everyone watching across the country.

That final summation though, that had been brutal in its simplicity and even more effective for it. Casey nodded to herself, she had enough experience reading a courtroom's mood and from what she'd seen, all seven of the accused were going to jail for the rest of their lives. A small smile ghosted over her lips as she nodded to herself, ' _good job Al; a really good job_ '


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N** If you would like to see what Julia Humphries looks like, do a quick Google search for images of 'Talia Winters Babylon 5'. That character, played by Andrea Thompson, with her cool beauty and shoulder-length straight blonde hair, is Humphries to a tee.

 **Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 13 – A Woman Scorned**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

"The court calls Julia Humphries to the stand"

I stood and made my way out into the centre of the courtroom, standing with my hands in front of me, fingers interlaced, my head turned to watch as Humphries was approached by the County Sheriff's Deputy and led out from the table where she'd been sitting with her State-appointed public defender and over to the witness box. The red bandage-style dress and the matching red patent leather four-inch heels she was wearing looked good on her, she wore them well and looked nothing like the amoral killer she'd turned out to be. One interesting piece of information we'd gained was that Humphries had spent most of the time she'd been in prison working out obsessively, in the gym when she could, in her cell otherwise, as a result she looked really toned and fit, something the tightly-tailored, flattering clothes she'd worn throughout the trial had done a good job of highlighting.

As she passed me she paused and looked me up and down, a slow, almost nasty smile appearing as she spoke.

"Let's get to it Cabot, we've got work to do" The deputy guided her forward with his hand on her arm as I tried hard to look unperturbed. Humphries was the unknown here, she'd refused to talk to anyone, not Brenda, not Peterson, not the State-appointed public defender she'd had assigned to her when she'd made it clear that she wanted nothing to do with Peterson, Kennedy or any of the others. She'd sat quietly at her seat at her separate table each day of the trial, mostly not saying much with the notable exception of her intervention to tie her actions to the others, she'd mostly just sat back, quietly observing all that had happened, often smiling at something only she found amusing. All in all she was an enigma, one I was about to try and get to open up.

After watching her take the stand and the oath I approached her and got us started.

"Miss Humphries, as a detective assigned to the LAPD's Robbery / Homicide division, please tell the court about your relationship with Tony Di Marco?" She looked at me and shrugged, her voice bored.

"He was my assigned partner"`

"Could you please describe your relationship with Mister Di Marco?" She sat there and shook her head slowly then leaned forward to speak clearly into the microphone.

"Let's cut the crap Counsellor, why don't you ask the questions you really want to, about how many people died and why" I froze for a split second; thinking ' _what the hell_ ', seeing the same expression on Andrea's face, then pushed on.

"You seem very certain of what you have to say Miss Humphries, why don't you tell the court in your own words?" She nodded and sat back, looking around the court and smiling into the closest camera, then turned back to me.

"It's all true, everything" I nodded, uncertain about exactly where she was going with this.

"Yes?"

"The killings, the kidnappings, the connection to Sinaloa, everything"

 **Boston BPD Division 1 Homicide**

"Jesus Christ!" Frankie Rizzoli shouted at the screen set up for everyone to watch as heads swung around the BRIC, ignoring them Korsak nodded sagely and smiled.

"It's all over now bar the shouting" Riley Cooper nodded once with a satisfied smile as she spoke.

"Death row, here they come"

 **New York 1PP**

Casey Novak sat back in her seat and smiled at the stunned voice of the cable network's legal expert as he tried to put what had just happened into words and failed.

Her smile widened, that single statement had just ensured a conviction, it was all over, the fat lady, in the guise of a homicidal blonde in a tight red dress, had just sung.

 **In Court**

Peterson's team and her own defender were on their feet, shouting objections as Humphries sat back with a smug little smile on her face as the Defence attorneys' tried to get her to stop talking. The discussion between the Defence and Craven had gone back and forwards a few times when I decided it was time to reinsert myself into the discussion and stepped into a pause in the argument, pointing out one salient fact.

"Your Honour, as Miss Humphries here has apparently made the unilateral decision to reveal all, including matters which are obviously going to incriminate her, then who are we to prevent her testimony from being heard?' Craven had nodded at that and turned to where Humphries had sat quietly, watching the proceedings with undisguised amusement.

"Miss Humphries, you are aware that your testimony could incriminate yourself and your co-defendants?" She nodded nonchalantly.

"Sure, I'm not stupid; I've been a cop for fourteen years…" She shrugged and offhandedly waved at her defender. "I know more about criminal law than the boy wonder over there" The man in question flushed red in embarrassment but Humphries had already moved on. "I know where this ends; we're all going to Death Row so I've decided we might as well go out with a bang" Peterson looked from her to me then turned to Craven, his voice angry.

"Has this woman been offered some sort of deal for her testimony? I should have been informed of that prior to her appearance" I shook my head, how stupid did he think I was? I didn't bother hiding the contempt in my voice.

"Of course not, until this point the defendant has not even deigned to speak to anyone beyond the barest procedural matters and I can assure both the Court and Defence that no deal has ever been on the table" I turned to look Craven straight in the eye and spoke as firmly as I could. "I had no inkling of this, but it appears that Ms Humphries is willing to offer an insight into this case that will assist the court and the jury determine the guilt or otherwise of the defendant's" I shrugged. "I say let's hear it" Andrea jumped in to back me up.

"There is certainly ample precedent in case law for it Judge"

The discussion wandered on for another minute or so before Craven sent both the defence counsellors and Andrea back to their seats and indicated I should proceed so I turned back to Humphries and kicked us off again.

"Ms Humphries, you stated that everything that you and the other defendant's stand accused of is correct, is that what you are saying?" She nodded airily.

"Sure. Raydor and Johnson and the others have put together a pretty good case, they know most of it but the essentials are all true"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

In Brenda's office the Twinkie had stopped moving to Brenda's mouth as she watched, rapt, though at that statement she was moved to mutter.

"Why thank you so very much for that, you miserable murdering psycho bitch"

 **In Court**

"So you can confirm the supposition that Sinaloa was paying you and your fellow detectives to undertake killings on their behalf" She nodded.

"Yeah, mostly; like the cartel guy, Hernandez, said, Kennedy approached them, told them he had an in to the Witness Protection program and did a deal with Sinaloa"

"Objection, here say" It was Peterson. Craven looked to me and I shrugged then looked to Humphries.

"You were not there, were you?" She shook her head.

"No, but when Kennedy recruited me and Di Marco, we asked him about how it happened and he explained it to us" She shrugged. "He left out the bit about him killing that guy to prove himself, but the rest of it, yeah" I glanced at Craven who nodded.

"Objection overruled" He looked to me. "Continue" I looked to Humphries.

"So you were all involved?" She shook her head.

"To different degrees, Osmond and Farrar weren't really trusted" She shrugged. ""Kennedy thought they were too dumb and too squeamish for anything important, surveillance and the occasional kidnapping was their job" She shrugged. "They got an hourly rate for the surveillance, chump change really, though the lump sums they got paid for the kidnappings kept them sweet, both were happy to take the money and kept asking for more jobs like that" She pursed her lips in thought then continued. "Kennedy didn't trust either of them with important work, besides it meant the big jobs went to him, Powell, Di Marco and me" I nodded.

"Why was that important to him?" She shrugged once, her tone brutally disdainful, matching her statement.

"Because he was a greedy son of a bitch, he wanted to avoid splitting the money any more than he was" I nodded slowly, thinking quickly then started teasing out useful information to fill in the gaps in the information we already had from Hernandez.

"But he had already brought Powell, Di Marco and yourself into his…" I thought for a second then continued. "…let's call it his scheme, why was bringing more people in an issue?" Humphries shook her head, her tone dismissive.

"He would have kept doing them all by himself, but he'd had too many OIS incidents, Raydor was sniffing round his shootings and he knew she'd fuck him over if she had a chance, so he'd been forced to bring Powell in" She glanced towards the Defence table and smiled, not pleasantly. "Apparently Kennedy screwed up one of his jobs and his target would have got away, fortunately for him Powell shot and killed the guy then helped him cover it up"

"Objection Your Honour, here say" At Ling's statement Craven looked to me and I nodded.

"How are you aware of what transpired there Miss Humphries?"

"That's Detective Humphries, Cabot. I still have my rank till I'm convicted so use it" I decided antagonising her wasn't worth the grief and I wanted her talking, not arguing so I nodded.

"How did you become aware of what transpired detective?" She smirked at me.

"There Counsellor, that really wasn't so hard was it?" Looking over towards the Defence tables she continued. "Kennedy was a loud mouth, a few drinks and he'd spill everything. All it took was a couple of beers and he was happy to tell me everything" I nodded and tried to tease out some more details.

"Why was that, did he trust you?" Her sudden laugh was loud in the silent court before she recovered enough to reply.

"Jesus no, he wanted to fuck me" She shook her head. "Kept bitching that his wife had got ugly and fat and he didn't want to fuck her anymore, he kept suggesting that he was looking for a replacement" She rather obviously looked me over then continued. "I'm no dyke but I'd rather do you than let that sweaty pig anywhere near me…" She looked back at where Kennedy was sitting, an angry expression on his face, and continued. "…so I kept stringing him along, feeding him enough interest to keep him keen and he told me everything while he drowned his sorrows" I looked towards Craven who was frowning, thinking it over, he did so for a few moments more before looking to the Defence table,

"Objection overruled" As Ling sat I nodded and turned back to Humphries.

"So how exactly did Kennedy approach you to join his scheme?" Humphries shifted in her seat then resumed.

"We got brought in because Kennedy was concerned he'd skated through too many OIS investigations" She pulled a face for a second. "He was probably right, he'd gotten into a habit with his WitSec jobs and it was going to bite him on the ass hard. He was afraid Raydor would start really digging, we all knew she'd nail him to the wall if she could, so he wanted to spread the work around" She shrugged. "Basically he'd done too many jobs the same and needed to be able to deliver without appearing on Raydor's radar" She snorted with disdain. "Shows how unimaginative the idiot was given Di Marco or I never got anywhere near an OIS investigation" I nodded and prompted her to continue.

"I understand detective, so how did he approach you to join in what he was doing?" She sat back and got comfortable, flicking her hair back as she did and turning slightly to face the camera closest to the jury.

"It was a bit like Osmond. I'd had one of those experiences where the court was an ass" Humphries shrugged. "An obviously guilty asshole got off on a technicality; he'd been robbing Korean convenience stores, one night it all went wrong and he shot and killed the momasan and popasan running it" She shook her head. "He was definitely guilty as, but he'd walked free on the basis of some sketchy corroborating evidence" She looked across to me. "The prosecutor screwed up and his lawyer got away with a 'balance of proof' defence, so he went free, despite being as guilty as sin" Humphries looked back at the Defence tables as she continued.

"We went out that night to drown our sorrows, the way cops do, Kennedy kept buying rounds and eventually, after we'd all vented about how the whole thing was a fucking joke and what we'd like to do to the asshole that'd got away with it; he suggested that there might be something we could do"

"And that was?" I prompted. Humphries glanced my way then turned back to the camera as she answered.

"He gave us his 'working with the victim's' speech but I wasn't buying it. He got us pulling surveillance at first, but when the guy we were pulling surveillance on, a low life Tijuana Cartel lieutenant named Hector Silva, ended up dead a week later we worked out something was shady" She glanced over to the Defence tables as she continued. "Di Marco thought Kennedy was handing over the details to someone who he'd wronged, a family member or someone" she shrugged. "I wasn't so sure but we agreed to keep our mouths shut for the moment" I nodded and probed a bit deeper.

"What changed your mind?" She looked from the Defence table back to me and shrugged again.

"It happened again; another surveillance, leading to yet another dead body" Humphries smiled, well smirked really at me. "I'm not stupid Cabot, I'm a detective, a good one, have been for almost a decade, so I put two and two together and worked out that we were pulling surveillance to make it easier for someone to get to our targets and kill them, which made me wonder who" She gave me another one of those half smirking smiles. "Di Marco thought it was a victim, maybe a relative of someone who had been done over by the suspect but I didn't buy that for a moment, maybe one, maybe, but two?" She shook her head. "Nope" I thought that over for a second, she was convicting them all so I needed her to keep talking.

"What crystalised it for you detective?" At my question Humphries surprisingly smiled, a real smile this time.

"The second guy turned out to be a Raoul Cortez, a member of the Los Zetas Cartel. When he turned up dead I did a little digging and found out he was a weapon's procurer, he was in Los Angeles on a gun run, he didn't get involved in the street level stuff, so there was no local victim here, as far as I was concerned the only people paying to see cartel members from different cartels end up dead was another cartel" She glanced towards the defence tables then back to me. "I convinced Di Marco and so we went and spoke to Kennedy" Fascinated, I nodded and prompted her to keep going.

"And he confirmed your supposition?" I asked.

"Pretty much, he was defensive until I pinned him down about how much he was getting paid, I told him that someone was paying him and it was almost certainly another cartel" She smiled. "He didn't deny it, instead said it was and as far as he was concerned, if it took cartel members off the street of LA he had no issues, especially as the courts weren't doing their job" Humphries smiled, a little off kilter, towards Kennedy at the Defence tables. "I thought he'd actually managed to convince himself of that, of course I didn't know about the Witness Protection side of it at that time" I nodded, noting the court was dead silent, everyone was fixated on Humphries, in particular the jury. She was making my case for me; I just had to keep her talking.

"So what happened then, detective?" She shrugged then continued.

"He spilled most of it then, the Sinaloa connection, the deal, the twenty thousand dollars a job rate" She pulled a face then continued. "I suspected he was skimming but I had no idea he was skimming ten thousand a time, greedy son of a bitch" I nodded; quite obviously there was no honour amongst thieves, or murderous cops it seemed, and encouraged her to continue.

"So Kennedy brought you in to assist him in undertaking the killings for Sinaloa?" She nodded once.

"Yeah, we, I mean Di Marco and I, we agreed that we were in, I mean it was drug cartel low-life scum we were taking off the streets, I had no problem with that, Di Marco didn't either" She shrugged nonchalantly. "Besides, his wife Paula had expensive tastes, plus she was getting lots of cosmetic surgery jobs, I think she was feeling a little intimidated that her husband was spending all that time with me and felt she needed to try and keep up" I nodded a little uncertainly as she pushed on. "She shouldn't have worried, I like my guys rich, generous and well hung and Tony didn't really stack up against what I was pulling most Saturday nights" Ignoring the bombastic irrelevancy I nodded and dragged us back to the case.

"So Kennedy told you that he was accepting jobs from Sinaloa and that he was receiving twenty thousand dollars a time to kill people from other cartels, would that sum it up?" She threw me a glance as she replied.

"Yeah, he offered us the chance to do the same and I was in, Tony too" She tossed her head to get her hair out of her face, a move that looked well practiced, as she glanced at the nearest camera. "I thought it was a chance to take the people dumping drugs and guns and misery on the streets and do what the courts weren't, taking them out of circulation" She smiled. "I was doing it anyway, but it was nice to be recognised for what we were doing"

"You mean being paid?" She looked at me and smiled.

"I was taking cartel money to get rid of other cartel's members, weakening both of them; I thought it was a good deal all round" A thought came to me, something she'd just said...

"You said 'it', meaning taking out drug dealers, was something you were doing anyway?" She smiled condescendingly at me, like I was a dim student who'd just worked out a-not-too difficult math's problem.

"Sure, it's not like anyone would miss a few scum pushing cocaine to kids, if they end up dead, well there's always another on the next corner, I saw it as performing a civic service, saving the state the cost of keeping them in jail"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

In the Major Crimes squad room Buzz had set up a feed from the cable television people into a small window on everyone's computer desk top; the team following the case remotely, with ripples of satisfaction or disquiet rippling through the room as the trial ebbed and flowed.

Now though any pretense of work being done had been abandoned as everyone stared at the feed from the court, Provenza summing up their reaction.

"Oh my god" He looked around. "Exactly how delusional is this woman?" Flynn just shrugged and looked over at him

"Very" He shifted the toothpick around in his mouth and continued. "I have no idea how the hell someone like her made it through to become a cop" Surprisingly Khan took a stab at it, he was normally pretty reserved.

"While I am no psychiatrist, it would seem that she has convinced herself that she was justified in her actions, no matter how inappropriate or illegal, certainly there is a strong element of self-delusion at play" He shifted slightly under their scrutiny. "Perhaps she was able to fool others because her sense of self-justification is so strong that she does not feel that she has done anything particularly wrong" He shook his head slowly as he continued. "Or it could be she is so self-centered that she does not believe the rules, or the law in this case, apply to her" He grimaced. "It would appear she is a highly functional psychopath"

Jane's summary was typical Jane, short, sharp and to the point.

"She's fucking nuts"

 **In Court**

I nodded, a little uncertainly, not exactly sure where we should go to from here then decided to go after the killings she'd been responsible for.

"Detective Humphries, Would you please tell the court how many people you were paid to kill by the Sinaloa Cartel, through the intermediary of Mister Kennedy?" She chewed her lip for a moment then sat a little straighter, as if she was proud or defiant about what she'd done.

"I killed eight cartel members, seven of them on my own, one I helped Tony out with" I saw people talking, a low susurrus of whispering around the court as I pushed on.

"And none of these were handled as Officer Involved Shootings?" Humphries snorted disdainfully before replying.

"Fuck no! Kennedy and Powell had well and truly fouled that nest" She looked over at the Defence table and contemptuously shook her head. "Raydor hadn't started sniffing around seriously back then but we all knew sooner or later she would, given how many OIS Kennedy had been involved in so Tony and I came to a decision to handle things differently to avoid falling into any sort of pattern that might be predictable" She looked back at me. "There were plenty of ways to get to the criminals we were dealing with without having to be so damned stupid" Humphries shrugged. "It was almost a challenge, finding new ways to off the targets" Deciding to jump in on that I followed up with a question.

"What methods were they Detective?" She smiled happily and waved her hand down her body like she was self-evidently presenting it for appreciation.

"All it took for a few of them was to turn up at a club they were at, dressed to impress and pretty soon they'd be tripping over themselves to hang out with me" She smiled. "It wasn't all that hard" I nodded at that and pushed on.

"So what did you do detective, how did you kill these men?" She shrugged before replying.

"They were criminal scum Cabot, don't forget that, they preyed on society, I was doing everyone a favour by taking them out" I nodded, playing along and said nothing, hoping the silence would encourage her to keep going, god knows Humphries had the ego for it. Sure enough she paused for a moment then continued. "One of them, I poisoned his drink at the bar and wandered off while he vomited on the floor, everyone was looking at him, not me. By the time he was dead I was in the wind" She actually looked proud of her exploits, making me shudder inwardly a little as she continued. The others, well a couple of them wanted to take me home, once we were alone, well they made it all too easy" She smiled sardonically. "One guy and his friend both wanted to party, we got back to his place and we started stripping off, which meant they had to take their pistols off, so I picked up one right off the bedside table and shot them both" She shrugged disdainfully, her voice scornful. "They were thinking with their dicks, not their heads, so not too bright"

 **Las Vegas LVPD Crime Lab**

Ray Langstrom looked across the currently empty autopsy table at his lead CSI, Catherine Willows.

"You did say she was cold, I think that was a gross understatement" Catherine looked from the television to her boss and nodded slowly, her voice dry.

"Hell yeah, the woman's a textbook psychopath, with a whole sidebar of mental issues to go along with it"

"I find myself in agreement with your earlier statement, I too would not want to be in a dark alley with someone like that; she seems of a mind to slit your throat for nothing more than the loose change in your pockets" Catherine looked back at the TV as she considered Ray's words, seeing the blonde prosecutor obviously taken aback at what Humphries had said then spoke.

"Thank god they're going to throw her in jail and toss away the key, she's a lunatic" Ray couldn't help but nod at that pithy but accurate assessment.

 **In Court**

I nodded uncertainly for a moment then nudged her along.

"And then…?" She shrugged nonchalantly.

"I cleaned up the evidence I'd ever been there, got dressed and walked out, went back to the club and picked up a hot guy and let him take me back to his place where we fucked like rabbits all night, thus establishing an airtight alibi"

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

"My god" Richard Castle looked up from his phone where he was watching the case and into the eyes of his partner. "This woman is crazy" Kate nodded; she'd been listening in while doing paperwork at her desk.

"Something's not wired right inside her head" she said, pulling a face for a moment then continued. "To cold bloodedly seduce then kill people, strangers, like that, she's definitely a psychopath" Rick shook his head slowly.

"I've written about the femme fatale, the ice cold KGB agent and the conscienceless female killer; just as characters in my books but to see, to hear the real thing is utterly horrible, repellent even. I never realised just how…wrong…someone like that is" Kate pursed her lips for a moment then replied.

"Messed up or not Castle, she's making Alex's case and so far she's guaranteed a cell on death row for all of them" He nodded, his eyes on the 'phablet' propped up against a pile of files on her desk where they could both watch it.

"Yeah, there is that"

 **In Court**

"Detective Humphries, can you tell the court how your targets were selected?" She nodded.

"Yeah sure, Kennedy would pass me the info, name, location, the stuff that the Cartel or his sister had passed on. Usually there'd be some stuff from the surveillance that Osmond and Farrar had conducted, giving me some idea of their general movements" She tossed her hair back and looked to the camera. "I told Kennedy to give me the ones who liked to party, go out to clubs and stuff, because that gave me an in the others didn't have" I nodded and followed up.

"And once he had you would undertake the killing?"

"Pretty much" She shrugged. "I'd let him know it was done and he'd confirm it with his cartel contact and a week or so later I'd get paid the twenty thousand he said Sinaloa was paying"

"How were you paid?" She smiled in recollection.

"He'd pass me an envelope with the cash in it, on the quiet, nice and easy" I nodded and got her back on track.

"You said you killed eight people as requested by Kennedy, could you remember their names?" She shook her head.

"Not off the top of my head" Humphries shrugged again. "They were just criminal scum; hardly worthy of note, I remember one or two names, but not all of them"

 **Quantico FBI Behavioural Assessment Unit**

Jennifer Jareau looked across at her fellow agent in the Behavioural Assessment Unit, Emily Prentiss and shook her head.

"That woman is deranged" Emily nodded.

"An interesting psych profile to put it mildly, I'd like to have a look into her background, there's surely a bunch of issues on show there" JJ shook her head.

"Good thing Ana and the others caught her" At that comment Emily smiled and decided to tease her friend.

"Aww, you still moping over your crush object?" That drew a quick retort from JJ.

"She is not my 'crush object' as you put it, I like Ana, she's a really nice person" Emily wasn't going to let her get off that easily though.

"You were interested enough that her girlfriend felt she had to get territorial with you" Jennifer shrugged, a little defensively, after all Emily had been paying off on her mercilessly since that Runway magazine article had appeared with her in it.

"I can't help it that she was insecure, we were just having a good time" Emily wasn't having a bar of it.

"JJ, you were practically sitting in Romanov's lap at that dinner, I can't blame Dearing for getting pissed" Ignoring that observation Jennifer waved back at the screen.

"Getting back to the real issue, this woman is a mess, psychologically speaking" She looked from the screen to Emily. "A shame we didn't get a call" Emily shrugged.

"From the evidence it seems they had no idea of what they were looking at until after they'd caught them. I mean forty-something people, that's pretty bad" Jennifer nodded.

"I think we can chalk this one up as a win for the good guys"" Emily nodded slowly.

"I couldn't see them getting off anyway, not after what that informant said, but this testimony, that's a one-way ticket to life behind bars" At that they shared a satisfied glance.

 **In Court**

I nodded at her words while I tried not to show how appalled I was by her.

"We will come back to that then shortly" I ran my eyes over the remainder of the Defence tables, taking in the expressions of her co-defendant's, ranging from consciously blanked to appalled to angry and decided to see if Humphries would give them up.

"What about your fellow officers in the Robbery / Homicide division? Did you discuss what you were doing with Kennedy and Powell, Osmond and Farrar?" Humphries pulled a face.

"Not really, Kennedy and Powell talked about it, but the other two were kept out of a lot of it, Kennedy thought they were too soft for the real jobs" She shrugged as she looked over to the defendant's tables. "He was right, Farrar wasn't really trusted and Osmond had that whole bible-bashing thing going, I sure as hell didn't trust either of them" She looked back to me. "Sooner or later they were going to become a liability, I expected that Kennedy would either kill them himself or get one of us to do it" I frowned at that little revelation, glancing to the Defence tables to see consternation on the faces of the defendants as Ling rose.

"Objection Your Honour, speculation" I looked to Craven and interjected.

"The witness is providing insight into motivation, theirs and the other witnesses, perhaps we can get to the bottom of it though cross examination Your Honour" Craven pondered for a moment before looking to Ling.

"Objection denied" He looked back to me. "Proceed" I nodded and looked back to Humphries.

"Why would they be killed? They seemed to be delivering the results needed?" Her mouth twisted into a sardonic smile.

"They were doing what they were paid to do Cabot, I'd actually suggested to Kennedy that he could pay a private detective to do the work they were doing and keep it at arm's length" She shook her head. "He said he was happy having them do the legwork, it meant that we weren't using someone new who might figure out what we were doing" She looked to me, then back at Kennedy. "He also said that while we could do the kidnappings, having them do it kept them implicated and their mouths shut"

"Why was that important detective?" I glanced from her to Kennedy then back. "Surely their involvement in Kennedy's scheme would keep them quiet"

"Osmond was a weak link, always running off to church with his good little god-fearing wife" She snorted. "Hypocrites, both of them; Osmond knew what he was doing and his wife happily spent the money he got for setting people up to be killed" She looked his way and shook her head pityingly, her voice harsh. "I always knew he was weak and easily breakable, he happily rolled over when Johnson put any kind of pressure on him" She looked back to me. "We should have killed him long ago" The smile I got was evil. "Dead men tell no tales"

 **Washington DC The Pentagon**

Colonel Sarah Mackenzie shook her head in the privacy of her office.

"Jesus, she's a murderous nutcase"

Sarah closed her eyes for a moment then opened them again to see everyone in the court was obviously coming to terms with that statement. Not that it was hard to see why, Humphries was a cold-blooded monster wrapped in an attractive shell, something she'd obviously used to her advantage over the years.

Thank god Ana and the others had caught her, well her and the rest of them. It seemed they were all treacherous, criminal scum, but Humphries…she was something much worse.

At least she could take comfort in the fact that even before Humphries had said anything they were looking at life in prison. Talking it over with her other half two nights ago, Harm, now a Federal prosecutor, had summed it up in one pithy sentence.

"They'll die in jail, something that's too good for them given what they've done, but it's the best we can do" Looking at Humphries on the stand she nodded at just how accurate that statement was, particularly regarding one cold blonde in a red dress.

 **In Court**

I spent a few seconds coming to terms with the reptile sitting in front of me, god knows I'd prosecuted more than my fair share of monsters in SVU, but Humphries was her very own kind of 'batshit crazy', as Liv would put it.

"Very well detective, you would receive your targets from Kennedy, together with surveillance information gathered by Osmond and Farrar, what would happen then?" She leaned to one side and rested her elbow on the side of the witness box, then rested her chin on her hand as she regarded me, her posture all about confidence and control.

"I'd review the information, determine the best opportunity to get to the target, everyone has a weak spot; you just have to find it" I nodded and tried to get her to keep going.

"What were you looking for?" She regarded me through calm eyes.

"Opportunities where the target fell into a pattern, someplace they were everyday but away from others, most people have them"

"Can you give the court an example?" She nodded slowly then looked to the cameras.

"Most people who drive to work, they park in roughly the same place each day, often in a car park, if it's quiet and a bit secluded like most are, you can get to them there with no witnesses" She shrugged. "Most people have routines they fall into"

"And those who don't detective?" She smirked.

"Like I said, most of the men think with their dicks, macho assholes. They'd take one look at this…" she waved her hand down her body. "…and they'd be tripping over themselves to take me home" She grinned a little sardonically. "Made it all too easy, get back to their place, somewhere quiet and private and it was simple as 1, 2, 3; hell one guy, he was so slimy and greasy I wasn't prepared to even go that far, just kissing him and having his hands on me made me want to puke so we left the club, got into his car and while he was starting it up I pulled my pistol out of my purse and put a bullet through his head. One shot, dead. Then I got out of the car, wiped it down for prints and went back to the bar, then picked up a hot guy for the night and went back to his place where I fucked myself an alibi"

 **New York 1PP**

Sitting in her office watching the trial coverage Erin Regan shook her head and looked to her guest. For most people hosting the NYPDs Chief of Police might be a big deal but the situation was a bit different here.

"That woman is a complete mental case" She looked back at the screen where the prosecutor, Alex Cabot, was obviously processing that statement. "I've never come across anyone like her"

"Consider yourself lucky then" her father told her, his expression grim. "There's plenty of people like her out there; cold, amoral killers, some work for organised crime, some are lone wolves killing people for kicks and some of them, like her, wear a badge" Appalled Erin looked to her dad.

"You think we have people like that in here the force?" Commissioner Frank Regan nodded slowly.

"Unfortunately yes, pretty sure of it, the issue is finding them" There was a quiet silence for a second before Erin changed the subject away from that bitter truth and onto safer ground.

"Cabot's doing a good job of handling her though" Regan nodded and gave a faint smile.

"Yeah, she is"

 **In Court**

I stood there for a second, idling in place as my mind struggled to deal with exactly what was sitting in front of me, the exterior might be pleasant enough to look at, but the reality under that pretty shell was horrific. I glanced at Andrea and saw the appalled expression she was trying to contain, then saw Mikki behind her catch my eye from where she was standing at one end of the front row of the audience, giving me a slow, single nod, the message clear. ' _You got this_ '. I gave her a small smile and nodded, then turned to Humphries, gritting my teeth I dove back in.

"So detective, you were assigned seven targets by Kennedy, who was acting on the orders of the Sinaloa cartel, plus you mentioned another that you assisted Detective Di Marco with" I glanced at Di Marco, why was staring at his former partner. "Could you tell us about that killing?" She shrugged.

"Yeah, the guy was pretty paranoid, with good reason it turned out, so he had a couple of bodyguards with him. Tony needed help so I said okay, I could distract them. I dressed up nice, wore lots of makeup and a wig, then got close to the target at a nightclub and made a play, he liked the attention but the guards were way too watchful for me to do the job, so I started an argument over something petty and he told his guys to toss me out" She pulled a face. "It took both of them to throw me out, as planned, while they were Tony walked up and put two shots from a silenced pistol into the back of his head" She shrugged. "No one heard anything over the dance beats, then he turned and walked out, passing the guards in the crowd on the way back, by the time they found their boss we were both long gone" She looked to her former partner and nodded. "He did well"

Andrea was busy searching through the list of dead victims and brought up an image of Daniel Maldonaldo, taken in the Boiler Room nightclub, the body slumped back on a couch, that image sitting alongside a prior booking photo.

"Is that the victim Detective?" Humphries shook her head, her voice grim.

"He wasn't a victim Cabot, he was a go between, he tied local street gangs to the Gulf Cartel, he wasn't a victim; he was a scumbag helping spread drugs across the city" I nodded slowly and tried again.

"Is that the person that Detective Di Marco killed with your help detective?" She nodded offhandedly.

"Yeah, that's him"

"Did you assist Detective Di Marco on any of his other…work for Sinaloa detective?" Humphries shook her head.

"No, it was a one-time thing, he handled his jobs, I did mine" She flipped her hair out of the way and continued. "We'd already agreed that by doing things like that we'd be less likely to fall into a pattern" She smiled. "He did things his way, I did them mine, though I did admire some of his work" I frowned, then decided anything to tie them to their crimes was worth listening to this…woman…preen in front of the camera.

"Oh, in what way was that detective?"

"He dressed up in his old patrol officer's uniform and used his unmarked to follow one target late at night, as soon as it was a quiet back street he hit the lights and sirens and pulled him over, like it was a traffic violation. The guy wound down his window and Tony put a bullet through him, then turned and drove off, clean as" Humphries smiled. "Quick and clean and no one saw anything, just the way it should be"

"You think so, that murder is a game?" She gave me a disdainful look as she replied.

"Of course it's not a game Cabot, you screw up and you wind up dead" Humphries shook her head. "You do it right and the target doesn't know their dead till the bullet hits them" She smiled. "Kill them quick and clean, silently if possible, make sure they don't know it's coming, if possible do it where no one else can see you, if not kill any witnesses and then walk out of there leaving no traces" She tipped her head to regard me and smirked. "Easy as pie; do it right and it's like taking candy from a baby"

Right then and there I revised my opinion, Humphries wasn't a psychopath, it was clear she was a monster in human form.


	14. Chapter 14

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 14** **– Dirty Humphries**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

Another day in court crossing swords with Humphries, she'd grown in confidence as she'd held the court spellbound while she laid out the conspirators actions, almost as if she was feeding on the attention. Mikki had called her an attention-whore as we'd gotten ready for this morning's session and I couldn't find it in me to disagree with that damning assessment.

Today she was dressed in a short-cut red leather jacket over a body-hugging white silk tee, teamed with tight white stirrup pants, a red leather belt and patent red leather stilettoes that had heels so high even Maura might have baulked at them, the whole effect highlighting her legs and tight ass, making her look taller and slimmer; a scarlet woman right down to the color. Andrea had tried cross examining yesterday afternoon but Humphries had been dismissive, looking my way and telling Andrea to ' _send Cabot out here, it started with her, it can end with her_ '. We'd discussed it and decided that in the interests of keeping her happy and talking, I'd continue the cross.

"Tell me detective, why tell the court, why tell the world, what you've done?" She glanced my way then went back to staring across at the other defendants, her voice carrying a hint of amusement, mixed with disdain.

"Because I know them Cabot, those cowardly sons of bitches would have tried to dump the rap for as much as they could on me" She smiled mockingly at her former partners. "They tried it earlier so I knew they'd try it again" That smile was turned on me. "If they're going to throw me to the wolves, they're gonna be right there besides me" She looked back at the defence tables. "Kennedy and Powell were okay, dumb but okay and I didn't know about his sister, but I knew Osmond and Farrar were weak links. As soon as Johnson put any pressure on him he rolled over, spilling his guts" Her lips twisted angrily. "I knew he was fucking weak, we should have got rid of him long ago"

"Kennedy however wanted to keep him on for the surveillance and kidnapping work did he not?" I suggested.

"Yeah, another of his stupid decisions, one of a long line of them" She shook her head and looked to me. "If it had been my call I would have killed them both ages ago, pulled the work in nice and tight where everything was unlikely to leak" She looked pensive for a moment. "Given how no one ever came close to any of the jobs that Tony and I did, it might have been better if we'd got rid of Kennedy and Powell as well" I stood there for a moment, stunned, then rallied.

"You are suggesting killing the other's; Kennedy, Osmond and the others, and taking up all the assassinations yourself, well in conjunction with your partner?"

"Yeah, why not?" She looked at me and smiled. "I had been getting away with it for a decade, would have for decades more, if I could have talked to Hernandez I would have suggested it to him, get rid of the dead wood and he could deal direct with the people doing the work" She shrugged and glanced at Kennedy. "Not to mention cut out the middle man and his ten thousand dollar per job skim job"

Appalled, I came to a conclusion right then and there; Humphries was dangerously delusional, making me wonder how in hell she'd ever made it as a cop.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

Unknowingly, seated in Brenda's office Sharon's assessment wasn't too far different.

"Oh my lord…" At her comment I shook my head, my voice low and wondering.

"How did someone like her make it through the psych eval to get into the academy?" Sharon too shook her head as she replied; her eyes still on the screen in the corner of my office where we'd been watching Alex and Humphries cross swords.

"I honestly have no idea, but I can tell you that Internal Affairs will be looking into her original profile and digging into whoever signed off on it" She pursed her lips as she thought it through for a moment then continued. "If they find evidence that entry standards were lax god help the person who approved her evaluation"

"What will they do?" Sharon narrowed her eyes in thought at my question before replying slowly, thinking it through.

"Get in a couple of external psychiatrists and psychologists to review the work of the person who signed off on Humphries" She shook her head. "If they find out there was a pattern of errors, well I wouldn't be surprised if Professional Standards don't end up going through the academy's entry selection and evaluation procedures"

I nodded slowly, Professional Standards were a small but immensely powerful section within Internal Affairs; where IA looked at wrong-doing by individual officers, Professional Standards looked at the actions and culture of the Department as a whole, their attention on a division within the Department was the stuff of nightmares for the heads of that division. It was common knowledge that anyone leading a division that received an adverse audit by Professional Standards...well, from that day forwards their career in law enforcement ceased to prosper.

 **In Court**

I paused for a moment, something she'd said bothered me; reviewing her words I realised what it was, she'd said she'd been getting away with it for a decade, something I had to go after.

"You mentioned that you had been doing this for a decade, my understanding was that this arrangement, the scheme that Kennedy had set in place, was barely two years old" She nodded once, smiling smugly, as if I was a dim student who'd impressed her.

"Yeah, I was wondering if you'd pick up on that. Kennedy had been running his little side job for about two years, that's true, but I'd been carrying out my own personal war on crime for years before that"

"Are you telling the court you had been involved in similar schemes before?" She smiled smugly.

"Thought you knew it all didn't you?" She glanced at the cameras and continued. "Not even close to it" She smiled. "I've been taking dealers off the street for years, with no one any the wiser"

 **New York 1PP**

Ed Tucker regarded the television in the corner of his small office with distaste. He hated crooked cops with a passion and quite obviously the cops on trial were as corrupt as it came. The issue was that he found himself on the same side as Alex Cabot, something he found particularly discomforting.

On one hand she was the partner of Benson, a woman he wanted to nail to the wall, something he'd do the moment he managed to find something that would stick; on the other hand Cabot was making a damned good case, together with that other prosecutor, to send those seven rotten cops to jail to rot, even if Humphries was a good looking piece of ass.

The revelation that the arresting cops were all gay had been…interesting, birds of a feather and that sort of thing he supposed, a real shame as most of them were pretty damned hot, a real waste. The extended coverage was making Cabot and the other woman, Hobbs, minor media celebrities, the camera seemed to linger on them a little too much, not surprising he thought; he had to admit the other blonde woman was easy on the eye given her age, something he guessed was mid-forties, while Cabot was straight up hot, he could easily see Benson's reasons for fucking her, hell he'd do her in a heartbeat if Cabot wasn't such an obviously man-hating dyke. I mean why the hell else would she fuck Benson; if she was a badge bunny who got off on fucking cops there were no end of guys who'd be more than happy to fuck her straight, he being one of them.

On the other hand the woman was rich as fuck, something he was sure was what had attracted Benson to her in the first place, well that and the fact she was a nice piece of ass, and now she was using that money to protect Benson. She'd escaped him in New York, in part because Cabot had pulled strings and greased palms to make it happen, he was sure of it. It was also why no one wanted to give Benson up, no matter how hard he dug no one would turn over on her.

Tucker shook his head. They would, he'd find someone who hadn't been bought off or who wasn't afraid of Cabot's money and influence and when he did he'd have all the proof he needed to drag Benson and maybe Cabot back to New York where he could serve them up to Thomas on a platter.

Doing that would practically guarantee him that Captain's gig, Captain Tucker had a nice ring to it, one he could get used to hearing, especially if it was coming from Bensons sweet-assed fuck-buddy Beckett when he took over as her Captain at the 16th Precinct.

In the meantime he had to keep digging, something would turn up, while he kept looking he spent some time sitting back and watching as Cabot hammered another nail into the coffin she was building for those corrupt cops, both admiring and despising her all at once.

 **In Court**

"You and Hobbs here think you have all the answers but you don't know shit" Humphries stated. I decided right there that I'd let her get away with enough, it was time to prod the beast and see what it did.

"I know enough to know you're going to death row, never to be eligible for parole" She sneered at me, her eyes cold and her voice angry.

"For those scumbag dealers, fuck that!" Her voice calmed as she continued. "I killed criminals, parasites on the system, the people who the system either didn't, wouldn't or couldn't touch. I was doing the criminal justice system a favour" She looked over at the jury, her eyes scanning across them as she continued. "I saved the system the cost of a trial and then paying to keep the scum in prison, they got a quick death, which was better than many of them ever offered the victims of their poison" With that she shrugged. "I saw it as dispensing justice to those the justice system couldn't, or wouldn't" Humphries looked at me then back to the jury, or maybe the camera, they were in the same direction. "Do you know the difference between you and me Cabot?" I tipped my head to regard her then prodded her once again.

"I'm sure you'll tell me" She smiled coldly at me.

"You do things within a broken system, one that sees more scum skate through what's laughingly called the criminal justice system than get convicted" She frowned. "Even if the system does somehow convict them, too many of them get out with a slap on the wrist from some bleeding heart liberal judge, or a light sentence, served in jail where they learn to be better, more vicious criminals from the other scumbags in there" She shook her head even as she warmed to her subject. "We send punks to jail, which is like a finishing school for criminals and what we get back are arrogant, smarter, more dangerous assholes". She looked into the camera closest to her. "Juvie kids stealing from the corner store go into JD and out comes arrogant punks snatching purses, we send them to the slammer and they come out as muggers, we toss them back in and they get out as home invaders and armed robbery experts, the cycle continues, rinse and repeat until they end up on death row because they've killed people" She raked her eyes over the jury then ignored me as she turned back to the camera and spoke.

"If I committed any crime it was that I was acting as a vigilante, stopping the cycle"

I narrowed my eyes as I suddenly saw where she was going with this, while she admitted her crimes she was trying to distance her actions from the others in the eyes of the jury and hope to be treated differently by claiming different motivations, playing on the sympathetic perceptions of the public towards vigilantes, fuelled by movies and television shows like the Punisher and Daredevil. I glanced to Andrea and saw her look back at me, she'd seen it too and she shook her head slightly, exchanging an unspoken message, ' _no way in hell_.

I turned back and faced Humphries full on.

"You were paid to kill eight people by Sinaloa, which hardly makes you some justice-dispensing vigilante, you were a paid killer, an assassin for coin" She looked at me and for a second I was surprised, she wasn't angry, instead she was smug.

"Cabot, you don't know shit about me and what I've done" Deciding to provoke her I let a little insolence into my voice.

"Then why don't you educate me and everyone else about the real Julia Humphries then?"

 **New York NYPD 16** **th** **Precinct**

"Shit Cabot, you're playing with fire" At Rollins' comment the other members of SVU looked up at the television.

"What?" It was Amaro; Rollins looked his way.

"Cabot's baiting Humphries but she's a dangerous nutcase" They were interrupted by Munch from where he was seated at his desk finishing off the last of his lunch.

"Don't let it bother you Rollins, Cabot's stared down worse scumbags than this psycho" He was backed up by Fin.

"Yeah, don't let Teflon's uptown girl looks fool you, she's tough as nails" He looked over at the screen and snorted. "That whack job thinks she's the one in charge, but let me tell you, just when she thinks she's on top Cabot's gonna lower the boom on her" He brought a meaty fist smacking into the palm of his hand. "Boom, headshot"

Munch nodded and waved at the screen as he spoke for Amaro and Rollin's benefit.

"Just keep watching the show kids, this one's not even close to over yet"

 **In Court**

"I've been killing the criminal filth of this city for over a decade, and no one ever came close to finding me" Humphries smirked triumphantly. "Over four dozen drug dealers dead in a decade and no one the wiser" I froze at her words, she'd just admitted to what? Off to one side I could see her public defender had just buried his face in his hands, he'd obviously realised his 'client' was determined to go out with a bang and to hell with him.

"I helped take those fuckers off the street permanently, I saved the system the cost of a trial where some SJW lawyer convinces a bleeding heart liberal judge that they were just misunderstood and they let them go, I saved the cost of putting them in jail, when everyone knows that dealers get back out in the street so fast it's not even a sick joke" She shrugged. "I helped deal with the problem, permanently, the way the LAPD couldn't and no one was ever the wiser" I shook my head slowly.

"Really, killing people was 'taking them off the streets'?" I put her words in quotes.

"I did it for over a decade Cabot, I would have for decades more, I was careful" She raked her gaze over the Defence table contemptuously. "Unlike Kennedy and Powell, those stupid fuckers got lazy and sloppy and so here we are"

"You admit you have been murdering people for over a decade?" I asked, still not quite believing her.

"You deaf Cabot, that's what I just said" She smiled happily and looked to the camera. "I took drug dealers off the street, the ones the drug squad couldn't or wouldn't do anything about, made sure they couldn't peddle their drugs to school kids anymore" She tipped her head and looked to me and smiled. "I did you and the DA's office a favour Cabot, saved the waste of time of a trial and made sure the streets were a little safer for everyone. You should be thanking me for making your job easier" She ended her comment with a smirk as I stared at her, she meant it, she really didn't care she'd murdered dozens of people, the woman was a rattlesnake in human form, cold and reptilian.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

I was up out of my seat and striding into the murder room, already barking orders as heads came up.

"Right, we have a lead, well a series of leads actually, I want any unclosed murders of drug dealers over the last ten years or so"

"That's gonna be a lot of cases Chief" It was Provenza. Before I could reply Jane spoke up from her desk.

"Maybe not, she has a coke habit, so we look at coke dealers dead with their stash stolen, that should narrow it down a bit" Flynn nodded.

"Yeah, anyone where they were killed with witnesses or no chance to steal their stash, like a drive by, we can probably discount" He was backed up by an unlikely source, Kahn.

"That is correct, I can query the program via a set of parameters that should isolate those cases that fit the criteria" At everyone's sudden interest he looked a little embarrassed and temporised as he looked to me. "It will not be perfect but it should capture most of the cases that match your requirements" I nodded once, not missing Jane giving him the thumbs up.

"Detective, please, we have a chance to tie Miss Humphries here to a whole passel of unsolved cases so get to it" I looked round the rest of the room. "Everyone else, the moment Detective Kahn here starts turning up cases, if each of you would be good enough to grab one and start digging" I looked down at Kahn and smiled. "I'll take the first one you find" He nodded, simultaneously worried and proud.

"Yes Chief!" I looked around and my eyes fell on Flynn.

"Lieutenant Flynn, if you would be so kind as to call Chief Kelso in Narcotics, please convey my compliments to him and ask if he could visit me at his earliest convenience, I'm sure he and his team will be happy to contribute to cleaning up Miss Humphries trail of bodies and who are we to not share the pleasure of that?" He nodded.

"On it Chief"

 **In Court**

"Your claims to be acting as a vigilante are not backed up by the facts detective; you were paid twenty thousand dollars a time to kill targets selected by a Mexican drug cartel" Humphries wasn't taking that lying down.

"No Cabot, I was taking money from a cartel that otherwise would use that money to support their actions, buying more product, paying more gangers to sell their product, corrupting people here and in Mexico, I took their money and they gave me the names of targets I wouldn't have otherwise got to" I nodded and gave her a bit more rope.

"Like who?" She shrugged before responding.

"One guy, he was a guns procurer, because of me, that's a pile of weapons that didn't make it onto the streets here or in Mexico" She looked to the jury then the camera. "Another was a woman who ran strings of scared young girls up into LA and San Francisco, bound for the illegal Cartel-run brothels in both cities, she's dead now, no more dragging young girls up here where they get fucked over by ugly fat fuckers in brothels in this city, all because of me" She shook her head. "Another was a cartel liaison to the Latino street gangs, running guns and drugs to the gangs. He's dead and that screwed up that cartel's plans to push more coke onto the street"

"All of which you got paid for" I said flatly, but Humphries was unfazed.

"Yeah, and so fucking what?" She shook her head and looked to the camera again. "I also killed a lot of others I didn't get paid for, the one's I'd been hunting down for almost a decade" She turned a contemptuous glance on me. "I was doing what you and the LAPD and the courts couldn't, taking them off the streets permanently, making this city safer for everyone"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Media Centre**

"Oh she's smart, she may be a psychotic bitch but she's not dumb" At that comment Ana Romanov looked over at her fiancée, Natalie was sitting back in her chair watching the trial's latest revelations.

"Yeah, she got away with it for over a decade and no one got a sniff of her" Natalie shook her head and looked to Ana.

"No…well yes, that too…but what I meant is she's pitching her message to a specific audience, that sort of vigilante talk is red meat to the far-right, the hardline talk shows, the YouTube commentators, some of the newspapers that push the tough on crime message and populist politicians in particular" Ana shrugged.

"It's not going to help her though, she's confessed to being on the cartel payroll as a killer" Nat shook her head, a frown marring her features.

"I'm not so sure, I wonder if she's been working up to this since she got arrested" Natalie looked to her lover. "She must have realised that when her defender told her that Hernandez was testifying they were all screwed, so she's trying to paint herself in a different light to escape the worst of the consequences" Natalie grimaced. "I mean it wasn't like she had much to lose" Ana sat back and thought about it then nodded.

"A last roll of the dice to see if she can escape death row you mean?"

"Exactly, she's playing to an audience outside the courtroom, hoping public opinion will sway the case" Ana smiled at that.

"I think we can rely on Alex and Andrea to put paid to that" Natalie looked back to the screen to see Alex sparring with Humphries, her voice worried.

"I sure hope so"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

We'd got a lucky break, Flynn had remembered that Humphries had a laptop in her apartment and we got it out of evidence then set Khan loose on it. Mike Tao hadn't had the chance to go digging through it before his promotion to Captain in the tech side of the Special Investigation Squad. Now he was happily turning his squad of techies into little Taos, apparently he was doing really well up there, but that transfer had meant that he hadn't had time to tear Humphries laptop part. Now we were doing just that and Khan was sifting it for information. What he was doing might have important results but the actual doing was as interesting as watching paint dry so instead we were watching the trial continue, Humphries was trying to be cagy about her involvement in sending the gangs after us, no doubt aware that paying street gangs to kill cops wouldn't play too well in her attempts to paint herself as a crime-fighting vigilante, when Khan looked up.

"Well, I can confirm one thing, the suspect was a very regular cocaine user, there are what looks like trace particles trapped in the keyboard" I nodded.

"Yeah, when we first searched her place we found cocaine residue everywhere, especially the bathroom, kitchen and lounge" Flynn looked my way and spoke up, his voice teasing.

"What the hell was she doing in the kitchen Rizzoli, baking cakes with it?" There were grins around the room as I shook my head.

"Any flat surface…" I got a nod as Khan looked my way and continued.

"It would seem so, I am continuing to run a deep search of the hard drive however I have cracked the email password" He looked a bit disgusted. "In this day and age what fool uses their badge number as a password?" I saw a sudden wince from both Provenza and Flynn at that, making me smirk a little as Khan continued. "I have found a number of regular once a month emails from a bank downtown, one that Humphries apparently used to run a savings account, the amount in the account is relatively small, a few thousand dollars at most; the emails were the regular monthly statements including account-keeping charges however upon checking them I have noticed they note a fee for maintaining a safety deposit box" Provenza and I exchanged a smile as Flynn spoke up, his voice cheerful.

"Bingo"

Two hours later and, having served her with a warrant, Provenza and I followed the bank's manager out of her office and through the bank to the safety deposit area. Two minutes more and she was turning the mill key to unlock it, then stepping back to leave it to us to actually open. I looked to Provenza and made an 'after you' gesture, getting a nod as he opened the lid, the smile that appeared telling me all I needed to know even before he stepped back to let me see what was inside. I looked down and smiled with him, two pistols, a 9mm Beretta and what looked like a SIG in the same calibre, sitting on a pile of envelopes. I pulled a set of blue latex evidence gloves out of my jacket pocket, put them on and pulled out the SIG, seeing Provenza also pulling on some gloves; a cursory exam confirmed my suspicion.

"The SIG's a 9mm, same as the Beretta" Provenza had opened a small, A5 envelope, finding it stuffed with hundred dollar bills, ten of them in fact, a neat $1000. He did a quick check, opening a few other envelopes and finding the same then did a quick count before looking up.

"$62,000 dollars here, now we know where she was keeping her cash" I nodded.

"She did say she's done seven jobs on her own and one she shared, so assume that's $150,000 or so, she's running an expensive lifestyle and clothing, maybe this is her stash?" I got a look from Provenza as he nodded.

"Let's get all this evidence bagged and get the pistols down to forensics ASAP" I nodded, returning the gun and reaching for my cell.

Yeah, I'll ask Maura to put a rush on it"

 **In Court**

Another day, another ensemble for Humphries, today it was a pale blue, tightly-fitted dress with cut-outs showing skin at her waist and shoulders, at least it made an vain attempt to reach her knees, matched with a long white leather jacket and white stilettoes. I'd wondered about her wardrobe and idly mentioned it to Andrea, Mikki and Liv at lunch yesterday, Mikki had then asked around and we'd learned that Humphries was paying a friend of hers to bring in outfits from her home to the courthouse, once they'd been scanned and searched they were passed through to her and she got changed in the ladies before the trial each day, carefully watched by two female deputies while she did.

She certainly knew how to dress to accentuate her body, something the media had picked up on. Natalie had let me know two night's back that they were comparing how Humphries and I looked and dressed, something that had me raiding my wardrobe for something a little nicer. Nat had offered to help and had come over last night with some of her nicest clothes, Maura' wore different sizes to me but she'd brought some wine and between the three of us we'd mixed and matched a number of outfits.

This morning I was in one of Nat's tight white pencil dresses and one of my black suit jackets teamed with a set of sky high Balenciaga black patent leather heels. I'd certainly got Liv's raucous approval when I'd walked out this morning after dressing, plus texts from Maura and Liv congratulating me on how good I looked on television.

"Detective Humphries, we have ascertained that you contracted with the Barrio Bangers street gang to undertake the attack on the officers investigating the actions of you and your fellow defendants undertook on behalf of Sinaloa" I walked a little round closer towards the jury as I continued. "Your involvement with Los Lobos Del Muerte is circumstantial I will grant you, but your actions in retrieving the money they were paid for their attempts on Doctor Isles, Deputy Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor are not"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Morgue**

Maura Isles carefully carried the two weapons, still in their evidence bags, downstairs to the range, exchanging greetings and some small talk with the armourer, Lieutenant O'Farrell, while she carefully broke the bag's seals and checked each weapon then passed them to O'Farrell who loaded and discharged a single shot from each pistol into a water-filled tank. Each time they carefully retrieved the shell and cartridge and bagged them, noting the time and date and which weapon they were from, they then both signed the stickers, then returned the pistols to their evidence bags, added new stickers and both to seal the bags and both initialled them, Finally they signed the record sheets that stayed with the tank, ensuring the evidence chain remained unbroken and could withstand any challenge in court.

That done, she bid O'Farrell adieu and returned to the morgue, setting up the microscope and scanner before opening each evidence bag and examining each round in turn under the microscope. A click of a button scanned the rifling and made both a photographic record and a digitised image of the bullet's rifling, she saved the electronic record to a file and retrieved the image, slipping it into a larger evidence bag and slipped the bagged SIG in as well, together with the slug in its baggie, replacing the seals on the slugs and cartridges then marking up the bag with date and time and her name, before doing the same with the Beretta. That done she returned to her desk and, while sipping a chamomile tea, called up the database of pistol riflings and submitted the scanned image of the SIG's slug.

Sitting back she mused that what she'd just done had once involved painstaking work under a microscope, then many tedious hours comparing file cards by hand, an uncertain and massively time-consuming process. Now with a few keystrokes she was searching both the LAPD's and a wide range of local and national forensics ballistics registers for matches, something that happened automatically. She'd barely had time to take a few sips of her tea before a soft chime from her computer indicated her search was finished.

She looked to the computer and smiled. The search listed 28 possible matches, from closest to least probable. Anything with a confidence of over 95% was almost certainly a match, the ones below that less and less likely as the confidence went down, those she'd compare on the screen but for now she had enough to keep her busy. She repeated her steps with the Beretta bullet and was soon rewarded with 23 matches.

Smiling to herself Maura settled in for a slightly tedious, somewhat boring but extremely satisfying morning's work. With a little luck, she could help Alex and Andrea send Julia Humphries to jail, never to be paroled, never to kill anyone ever again.

That would well and truly be a job well done.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

We were sitting round the Murder Room, waiting on Maura's team to do their forensics magic on the two 9mm pistols we'd recovered from Humphries safety deposit box, plus over sixty thousand in cash. The cash was now safely in evidence while the pistols were now downstairs being matched for ballistics against any open cases. In the meantime I was scanning the media.

"Dirty Humphries?" I shook my head in exasperation and anger. "You have got to be fucking kidding me" The rest of the murder room had stopped at my voice with Buzz the first to speak.

"What was that Jane?" Looking up at his voice and seeing everyone else looking my way I waved my hand at the computer screen as I explained what had set me off.

"The media's tagged her as 'Dirty Humphries', apparently they actually believe that nut case's claim that she's some kind of 'misunderstood' vigilante" Provenza shrugged as he spoke.

"Nice play on words Rizzoli, but it isn't true, not even close" I shook my head as I tried to work through the anger running through me.

"The bitch killed two innocent women, tried to have us killed multiple times, turns out she's a delusional and murderous psychopath with a cocaine habit and now she's claiming to be some sort of misunderstood vigilante" I'm sure the look on my face expressed my opinion of that idea as clearly as my next comment. "Fuck. That. Shit" Flynn looked over at me and smiled grimly.

"It doesn't matter what she might think Rizzoli, she's still going to spend the rest of her life in prison looking over her shoulder, waiting to be shanked" I shook my head again, I felt like spitting in disgust.

"It's just her grandstanding's pissing me off" Buzz shrugged from where he was leaning against the door to the media room.

"Humphries may be grandstanding, but DDA Cabot's not bothered" He waved at a screen over near the whiteboards. "I mean look at her" I glanced over and nodded slowly. Alex was prowling around the area between the witness stand and the jury box, hands moving as she spoke, drawing Humphries out that little bit more, all so they'd all go to jail together.

"I suppose" I shrugged. "I just can't believe the bullshit that woman's shovelling though" Khan went to say something before he stopped, he looked towards the door as I heard the sound of heels approaching, smiling as Maura walked into view, wearing a peppermint green dress and matching heels with a charcoal jacket; seeing me I got a smile from her that made everything just that little better.

"Good afternoon everyone" There was a chorus of welcomes as we all waited. Maura smiled slyly to herself and hefted a folder she was carrying. "I'm sure that while there are many things we could be discussing this afternoon, there is only one subject on your mind" There were nods all round, we all knew what we wanted, fortunately Maura put us out of our misery quickly. "Then I am pleased to confirm that we can trace the ballistic characteristics of the two pistols found in Detective Humphries' safety deposit box to 14 separate, previously unsolved, murders of drug dealers here in Los Angeles over the last nine and a half years" There was a sudden outbreak of smiles and woops all round at that, solving 14 cases in one go was pretty damned impressive if I say so myself.

"Pardon me, Doctor Isles…" It was Kahn. Maura turned to him and smiled, somewhat heightening his nervousness, I'd noticed he got all awkward around Natalie, Alex and Maura, like they kinda intimidated him, though I didn't get why, I didn't think any of them were particularly intimidating, not normally anyway.

"Yes Detective Kahn?"

"We're you able to find the suspect's fingerprints on the weapon?" Maura smiled a little wider and nodded.

"On both weapons and on the ammunition within both weapons" I smiled along with the rest of the team, that was motive, means and intent right there; so many criminals wiped the weapon but forgot the brass casings of the ammunition. I glanced at the screen and nodded, then spoke up.

"We need to let Alex and Andrea know, they're gonna love this"

 **In Court**

I sighed and exchanged a look with Andrea, it had been a long day and while we'd pretty much guaranteed that all of them a guilty verdict I'd ended the day exhausted, dealing with Humphries and her worldview had been draining. Behind us Mikki and Liv were chatting quietly as we made our way back to our office here in the court complex.

"She can't believe this vigilante BS can she, she's gotta be trying to pull her scam on the jury right?" said Mikki, getting a response from Liv.

"Maybe…or maybe she's so delusional that she actually has a worldview that messed up and somehow believes that's true, I don't know" Liv looked to me for a second before her eyes went back to scanning the corridor as we walked. "What do you think Al?" I shrugged and glanced at Andrea.

"I've come to the conclusion I despise her, so I don't think I'm the right one to be giving an unbiased opinion, maybe Andrea has a less…personal opinion?" Andrea nodded.

"I'm with Mikki on this…" That got her a quick and lovely smile from the woman in question. "…she's smart enough, based on her assessment scores in the academy and for promotion to detective, that she's worked out this is her only way to somehow get out from under a life sentence, she's hoping for either the jury to be swayed by her arguments, or maybe sway popular opinion enough so that the governor influences the court to offer leniency" She shrugged. "I don't think she has a hope in hell, not after Hernandez' evidence, but I guess she thinks it's worth a try"

Anything I was going to say ended as we rounded the last corner and saw Jane Rizzoli standing in the corridor outside the DA's offices. She looked up at our footsteps and smiled happily, obviously it wasn't bad news.

Turns out it was good news, very good news.


	15. Chapter 15

**Intersecting Lines – The Trial**

 **Part 15 – Rebuttal**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

Another day, the fourth spent cross examining Humphries. I'd come to first dislike then detest the woman, now the best word to describe my feelings towards her was disgust. I considered her a loathsome excuse for a human being. To be honest the speed of my reaction to her had surprised me but day after day of sparring with her, getting an up close and personal insight into the mind of a 'psychotic nutbag', to use Jane's crude but accurate description, had just amplified my distaste towards her. Now…I couldn't wait to put her away for good.

"Y'know Cabot, you're not that stupid, so why don't you tell me why I'm wearing these clothes?" She'd dressed nicely once again in a tightly-fitted black leather high-necked mid-thigh length sleeveless dress I found myself admiring; she'd matched it with a gold chain-link belt and a set of polished black patent-leather knee boots with spiked gold-heels, if anything she looked a bit of a dominatrix, all she was missing were the gloves and the whip. There was no doubt she was attractive and she certainly knew how to dress to impress, to make the most of her looks, but all the nice wrapping did little to hide the ever more obvious fact that the mind inside the pretty package was as cold and cruel as a reptile.

At her question I tipped my head to regard her and played along.

"Because you're aware that you won't be wearing them ever again once this trial is over?" She smiled a little as she spoke.

"Pretty much, and do you know why?" I assumed the question was rhetorical and let the silence speak. Her smile turned a little crooked. "Because you and Hobbs, these idiots..." She waved in the jury's direction. "...and a corrupt system are going to send me to a place where I'm gonna be killed" She shrugged. "If it isn't state sanctioned murder, then the guards will turn a blind eye while I'm shanked by the other inmates, either way I'm dead" She shrugged and looked to the camera. "The state of California may have cancelled executions, but sending me to prison is a death sentence, just carried out a lot messily than it used to" She flicked her hair back and stared at the camera. "This is judicial murder, pure and simple" Humphries turned from the camera, looked to me and smiled again, so cold it chilled me. "Might as well go out with a bang, looking my best"

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

"What the hell?"

Kate looked over at Rick's disgusted tone; he was sitting in his usual place besides her desk in the 12th Precinct's Homicide area, watching the trial on his 'phablet'. Wondering what had set him off, she spoke up to catch his attention.

"What's up Castle?" He shook his head in disgust.

"Some of the media outlets are calling it the 'Battle of the Babes" Kate frowned, _'what?'_ At her obviously perplexed expression he explained. "One fashion blogger started comparing Alex with Humphries, their outfits in court I mean, looking at it from a label and cost perspective and comparing the two. Unfortunately media's picked up on it and run with the concept, now they're calling it the Battle of the Babes" Kate frowned then spoke, her voice easily carrying her disdain.

"That's like comparing apples with cauliflower; Alex is nothing like that murderous bitch" Rick nodded emphatically as he replied.

"I know, believe me I know, but media are running side by side photos of Alex and Humphries and getting people to vote on which outfit looks best and who was the better looking on the day" he held the 'phablet' out so she could see as Kate ran her eyes over today's outfits, the images laid out side by side for easier comparison.

Alex was wearing rimless spectacles and a sapphire blue skirt suit, perfectly-tailored to her figure she looked the epitome of professional chic, with just a little of the sexy showing through with her choice of no blouse and nude stiletto heels, but still totally professional. Not so for Humphries, her outfit today was an above the knee tight black leather sleeveless dress teamed with a pair of knee-high shiny black boots with four-inch high chrome-heels. Noting Humphries was running away with the votes Kate shook her head slowly and sadly as she looked to her partner.

"Just when I think I've seen it all, the media finds a new way to lower my expectations" Rick nodded slowly, taking the phone back then started tapping the screen furiously. "What are you doing?" she asked, causing him to look up in surprise.

"I'm voting for Alex of course, no way is Humphries going to win, not if I can help it" Kate just shook her head and buried a proud smile as she went back to her paperwork, that was her man, he might be like a child on a sugar rush sometimes but he was loyal to a fault to his friends

 **In Court**

I knew I shouldn't be looking forward to this as much as I was, but honestly, while Humphries' evidence had guaranteed that we'd send her and the rest of them to jail for the remainder of their miserable lives, her arrogance, her self-delusional and self-serving nature and her obvious contempt for everyone around her had rubbed me the wrong way for long enough. Now though I was looking for some overdue reckoning.

"The witness has attempted to justify her actions by claiming to be acting against cartel members and drug dealers as a self-described vigilante" I shook my head slowly. "The fact that murder under any circumstances is illegal seems to have not bothered her in the slightest" I looked to Humphries to see her looking back at me blandly. "Even if one was to accept her self-serving assertions, which the People most assuredly do not and which you should not, let us now come to her employment of others to undertake murders for hire, on the police investigating the crimes of her and her coconspirators"

"The witness paid not one but two street gangs to carry out murders on her behalf" I shook my head a little. "Apparently she was happy to sub-contract assassinations to these gangs, possibly because she was rushed or perhaps couldn't be bothered doing it herself" I raised an eyebrow at Humphries, getting no response. "Or perhaps she deemed her targets to be too dangerous to go after herself" I shrugged. "Be that as it may, she contracted with a street gang, Los Lobos del Muerte, to do her dirty work" I strolled a little further round then waved to the screen as Andrea pulled up surveillance video of the attempted drive by on Brenda and Sharon.

"Two of the investigating officers, Deputy Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor, were leaving LAPD headquarters when they were ambushed. I'd ask you to direct your attention to the screen" For the next minute or so the video played, showing the initial drive by, the gangers getting out of the car to finish the job and the shootout with Sharon and Brenda taking cover behind a concrete bench, resulting in both gangers sprawled out on the road as their stolen SUV sped away. As the first police to arrive on the run appeared in the video Andrea paused it as I continued. "As you can see, this was more than just a drive-by, the perpetrators exited their stolen vehicle and tried to make sure of the job, it was only through good luck and good marksmanship on the part of Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor that they emerged unscathed" I shook my head, all theatrics, and pressed on.

"At roughly the same time as that attack, a second vehicle, another stolen SUV, was identified in pursuit of the car driven by Doctor Isles, fortunately she was able to evade their pursuit, for it was a pursuit, undertaken at high speed through the streets of Los Angeles, before responding LAPD vehicles were able to cut the pursuing vehicle off" The screen changed, now showing video from a LAPD helicopter, it was a little distant but it showed what I was describing as I continued. "The occupants of that silver SUV, also Los Lobos del Muerte gang members, chose to shoot it out with the LAPD rather than surrendering, resulting in two dead and one wounded ganger" The screen changed under Andrea's direction to show another SUV parked by the side of the road.

"Also at approximately the same time another SUV, stolen in a similar manner to the others, was sitting close to LAPD headquarters. It is strongly surmised that this vehicle and their occupants were waiting for two more of the investigating team, Special Agent Romanov and Miss Dearing, to exit headquarters and walk to the nearby car park where their vehicle was parked. Fortunately, with the failed attempt on Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor, the area was saturated with police officers and the vehicle departed rapidly, as can be seen" The video showed it roaring away. "That vehicle, like the other two, had been stolen; it was later recovered, burnt out where it had been dumped later that evening" I turned back to the jury.

"Investigating officers were able to identify the attackers as members of the Hispanic street gang Los Lobos del Muerte, the 'wolves of death' apparently. Further investigations led to investigators to discover that the wife of the leader of that gang had been killed later that same night" I smiled at the jury. "Please keep that detail in mind as I explain the relationship to the witness" I saw members of the jury glancing between me and Humphries as I spoke.

"Several days later there was an all-out ambush and assault on the investigating officers and their protectors. Many of you will have seen the footage but for those of you who have not…" I turned to Andrea and smiled. "If you would be so kind…" Andrea smiled in return and a composite video of the ambush that Buzz had stitched together from a traffic cam that covered the intersection and then from cell camera footage posted to YouTube, started playing on the screen. It ran for about 90 seconds all up, I have to say the violence up there was terrifying; so many dead and wounded in such a short space of time. As it came to an end I turned to the jury and grabbed their attention once more.

"That attack was carried out by a street gang, the Barrio Bangers. This gang had previously crossed paths with members of the Major Crimes team led by Chief Johnson however that was not why they had attacked the investigators of the crimes undertaken by the defendants" I looked to Humphries, seeing her sitting there with a slight smile on her face and then turned back to the jury.

"They had been paid by the witness to carry out that attack. How can we be so sure?" I smiled. "Because a member of the gang, who witnessed the meeting between the leader of the Barrio Bangers and the person paying them, identified that person, initially from images and then later picked them out of a line up. That person will be heard from later in this trial but they definitively identified the person who commissioned that attack as the witness, Julia Humphries" I started pacing back and forward in front of the jury as I continued.

"That eyewitness explained that the Barrio Bangers had negotiated a fee with the witness here for the ambush and attempted murder of the investigating officers and their escorts, twenty five thousand dollars down payment with the same again to follow if they succeeded" I paused and glanced at Humphries who was watching me calmly, then commenced pacing again "Of course they were not successful, losing six members of the Barrio Bangers in that failed ambush, one of whom was the gang leader. That left the surviving Bangers in possession of the initial twenty five thousand dollars in blood money" I shook my head. "The witness determined that they would retrieve that money, the same way they had after the failed attack by Los Lobos del Muerte, by seeking out and retrieving the money from whoever possessed it" I paused and looked at the jury.

"You may ask how she could locate that money?" I smiled. "Investigators later discovered that the money had been passed across in a metal attaché case, one that also carried a concealed tracker. The witness was able to track the case's location and seize the case and the money it contained, from the Los Lobos del Muerte and then from the Barrio Bangers, in each case killing the women into whose custody the money had been passed" There was a sudden tap of Craven's gavel.

"Counsel will get to the point, the witness is here to be cross-examined counsel so get to it" I nodded.

"Yes your honour" I turned back to the jury.

"That money had been left in the possession of the girlfriend of the Barrio Bangers leader, one Shaylene Phillips. Miss Phillips was found dead with two shots from a 9 millimeter pistol to the chest" Andrea brought up the crime scene image as I continued. "Shaylene Phillips baby daughter was found on site, she had lain uncared for since her mother was callously murdered next to her cot" That got a lot of reactions as heads swung to face Humphries who didn't react at all as I pushed on.

"The attaché case, containing the money and the radio tracking device, plus the actual tracker itself and a 9 millimeter pistol and silencer, together with rubber gloves, were found in the boot of Julia Humphries' car after her arrest. Forensic examination tied the pistol not only to the murder of Miss Phillips, but also to another woman, Cristina Rocha, the wife of the Los Lobos del Muerte's leader, who was living in the premises where the money Humphries paid to the Los Lobos del Muerte had been hidden. Unfortunately for her, Miss Rocha was home when Julia Humphries came to retrieve her money, and paid for that with her life"

With another click the crime scene image showing Rocha's corpse appeared on the screen, she'd been shot once in the back of the head, killing her instantly. I gave that a few seconds to sink in, watching Humphries but she was looking to the jury, her face bland.

"Later analysis of the tracker's data memory showed that the case had been in several locations, in particular the sites of Miss Rocha's and Miss Phillip's murders, as well as Julia Humphries home and car" I turned back to the jury. The evidence is circumstantial I grant you, but compelling"

 **Washington DC The Jeffersonian Institute**

"Too smart by half" At her husband's words Temperance Brennan looked up from the screen in her office and nodded.

"I agree, but from all we have seen it looks like Humphries is completely uncaring of anyone around her, at least those who are of no use to her" She shook her head. "The moment those gangs missed their targets, they became useless to her and in her mind I would suggest she considered them failures in possession of 'her' money, something to be corrected immediately and woe betide anyone standing between her and the money" Booth's voice was grim.

"Thank god they caught her, she was already a serial killer; a smart one who could hide behind her looks and a badge, if they hadn't caught her there's no telling how many people she'd have ended up killing. She's been at it for a decade, she could have gone on for decades more" Brennan looked up to her husband.

"Including potentially the murder of other officers, both the investigating officers and, according to that former cartel member, other LAPD officers Sinaloa wanted dead"

They exchanged a glance that said all either had too about that before they turned their attention back to where that prosecutor, Cabot, was building her case against Humphries.

 **In Court**

"So Julia Humphries, not content with having personally killed, by her own admission, some several dozen people, sub-contracted out the murder of six law enforcement personnel, plus the people who were working desperately to keep them alive" I shook my head and turned to Humphries. "Detective Humphries, what possessed you to attempt to have your fellow officers killed?" Humphries was unfazed, looking at me with a small smile on her face.

"Finally, I was wondering when your monologue was going to end Cabot" Craven tapped his gavel.

"The witness will confine themselves to answering the questions put to them" Humphries, not surprisingly was unimpressed, dismissing him with an airy wave.

"Yeah, what…ever" I carefully buried a smile at that, given I'd desperately wanted to say much the same thing to Craven innumerable times during this trial and pushed ahead.

"Why did you seek to have your fellow officers murdered Detective?"

"They were getting in the way of what I was doing" she shrugged and looked to the jury as she continued. "I was dealing with drug dealers and cartel members permanently; a damned sight more effectively than the drug squad ever did"

"But these were fellow officers…" I tried, only to be interrupted.

"No, some were; the others were hangers on. Isles wasn't a cop, neither was Dearing, and Romanov was a Fed, all too prissy to get their hands dirty. Dearing struts around in front of the camera's like she's some Hollywood slut when she's just a paid whore, prostituting it up in front of a camera, turning tricks for the media in hopes of making Pope and the force look good" She shrugged. "Isles is some rich bitch playing at hanging with the cops, it makes her feel good about herself, to try and convince herself that she's not another of the 1 percenter parasites, that she's actually not a waste of oxygen and that she can ever be as good as the cops who do the real work" She shrugged carelessly as I desperately stamped down on the anger I was feeling at the slurs she was throwing at my sisters. "As for Romanov, well we've heard how she was too incompetent to be an agent, which given how useless most Bureau types are, takes some real doing"

"So the fact that they were not LAPD officers somehow excuses your actions, is that it?" I asked, keeping a tight rein on my voice, not that Humphries cared, shrugging as she replied.

"Why not? You've heard the evidence, they got their jobs through the help of the LAPDs prize dykes, Raydor and Johnson, so they hang out together, protect each other and make sure they look after each other" I went to say something when she cut across me. "That's how you're here isn't it, because you're a dyke and they pulled strings to get you in LA and prosecuting, same as Hobbs, you're here because you owe them and because you dyke's stick together" I decided to ignore that irrelevancy and came back to what she'd done.

"What about the LAPD officers you tried to have killed?" Humphries obviously didn't care about them either.

"Raydor and Johnson may have been cops, but they'd both slept their way to the top, everyone in the LAPD knew that, and that was before they started fucking each other, plus Raydor was an IA rat, not a real cop. Johnson was Pope's former piece on the side, everyone knows she got the job because of it" I stood there stunned, this woman's worldview was either the biggest pack of lies or she really was that delusional. "As for Rizzoli, she was a blow in from Boston, Isles' tame cop fuck toy, she turned up and tried to be a real cop, but we all knew how she got her job, by being another of that lezzie clique that's infesting the LAPD" She shrugged. "None of them were real cops, not like me"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

Every eye had turned to Jane as she sat there stunned; it was Provenza who broke the silence first.

"The woman's a delusional nutcase Jane" Jane looked away from the screen

"Is that sort of attitude common, I mean I haven't seen it here obviously but Maura and Nat and the others…?" Flynn shook his head.

"There's always going to be people who gossip and some of that's going to be pretty bad, but the majority of the force, they either don't know you and don't have an opinion, or have heard of you and their opinion's pretty much spot on, you're all cops doing a good job" Khan nodded and chipped in.

"The ravings of a psychopath are not to be taken seriously" Jane nodded slowly then looked round, taking in Provenza, Flynn, Khan and Buzz where he was leaning in the doorway to the media room.

"Thanks guys, it's good to be here and to know you guys have our back" Flynn nodded once as he replied.

"Anytime Jane"

 **In court**

"So because these officers and law enforcement personnel didn't measure up in your opinion to what you had privately decreed was acceptable standards for LAPD officers, you determined that they could be killed?" Humphries was a picture of nonchalance.

"They were getting in the way of what I was doing, if they interfered they were an impediment, they had to go" I nodded slowly.

"Yes, I suppose they did, after all what were another six or twelve dead on your conscience when you already had so much blood on your hands?" She waved me away, much as she tried to do with her words.

"Fuck off Cabot, the ends justified the means; I'd cleaned Los Angeles out of dozens of criminals, in a way that the whole LADP, DA's office and the criminal justice system hadn't" She snorted. "I'd arrested the same punks two or three or four times over the years, only to see them get off with barely a slap on the wrist or community service or a light or even suspended sentence, only to see them start all over again, each time more vicious and dangerous than before" She looked to the jury. "They went from petty larceny to break and enters to armed robbery to killing people over gang and drug turf wars, all because no one would do what was necessary" I stared at her coldly, unimpressed by her diatribe.

"So you took it upon yourself to be judge, jury and executioner, what gave you that right Detective, who anointed you as the chosen one, to determine who lived and died?" Humphries smirked at me, totally unconcerned.

"Me Cabot, just me" She looked to the jury and continued. "No one else had the balls, someone had to and no one else would, or could, so I did" She looked across from the jury to the camera and directed her next words there, as Nat had suggested, she was playing to an audience beyond this court. "I took those criminal's off the streets permanently, ensuring that there's people out there on the streets today who are alive today because those violent criminals aren't there to attack them, their kids won't get dragged into gangs and the drug dealers aren't there to feed poison to those kids" She looked to the jury. "That was me, because of me those scum aren't fucking up lives right here in Los Angeles" I stood there for a few seconds, taking it all in then, as everyone's attention turned to me, I slowly folded my arms and let the disgust and disbelief I was feeling bleed into my voice.

"Our very own modern day Punisher, killing criminals that crossed your path or so you'd like us to believe. Unfortunately the fact that you were being paid by a Mexican drug cartel, paid in cash and cocaine does somewhat undercut your narrative Detective" Before she could speak I kept going. "As does your actions in paying street gangs to attempt the murder of you fellow law enforcement personnel"

"Criminals off the street permanently Cabot, that's what I achieved; off the street for good instead of destroying lives" She shrugged. "The end justify the means"

 **Miami MDPD Crime Lab**

Horatio Caine sat back and watched Cabot and Humphries go head to head. Humphries was trying to hide what she'd actually done behind a screen of supposed vigilante motivations, something Cabot wasn't having a bar of.

"Still watching the trial?" As the voice of Calleigh Duquesne came from the door he turned and smiled.

"Yeah, it's a train wreck; you can't really look away from it happening in front of you. Humphries is claiming to be some kind of vigilante and that she killed criminals to make LA safer" Calleigh wandered in a bit further and turned to watch the television, then glanced his way.

"I take it you don't believe a word of it?" He shook his head.

"No, the woman's a terminator, no remorse or conscience; she just kills to get what she wants. I've put people like that behind bars; we all have, it's just really sick to see a cop like that" Calleigh nodded. She could understand the superficial attraction, but at the end of the day that way led down the same hellhole that parts of Mexico and elsewhere in Central America had turned into, a dog eat dog, survival of the fittest nightmare where normal people lived and died at the whim of the violent.

"At least they caught this one and she's going to death row which must count for something" Horatio looked up at her and nodded slowly as he replied.

"Yeah, score one for the good guys I guess"

 **In Court**

"Your unsuccessful attempts on the lives of the investigating team, while futile, did lead to a further string of deaths" Humphries looked blandly back at me, saying nothing as I pressed on.

"There were the three members of Los Lobos Del Muerte who died in shoot outs with police, either at the drive by shooting attempt on the lives of Chief Johnson and Commander Raydor or at the pursuit of Doctor Isles which led to a shootout with responding police. Then there was Cristina Rocha, the wife of the Los Lobos del Muerte's leader, who was unfortunately in the location where the deposit you had paid the gang was being stored. You turned up, walked inside her apartment when she answered the door and you shot her; killed her so you retrieve the money that you had paid them for the attempted murder of Commander Raydor, Deputy Chief Johnson and Doctor Isles" Humphries was silent, instead regarding me with something like disdain or even scorn as I continued.

"Then there was your attempt to have the Barrio Bangers do your dirty work for you, resulting in an ambush and a wild firefight on the streets of Los Angeles. A firefight that saw six members of the Barrio Bangers die and two members of Talisman Protective Services wounded as they fought alongside the investigating officers to protect the team from your attackers" I shrugged. "Their lives obviously meant little to you, as later that evening you made your way to the location of the money you had paid the Barrio Bangers to do your dirty work for you. It was during your actions to recover that deposit that you shot and killed Shaylene Phillips, leaving her dead from two shots to the chest" Seeing Humphries unmoved I hit the key points again.

"Eleven more dead; their deaths are on you detective, you may have been the one who pulled the trigger on Miss Phillips and Miss Rocha, but you are equally culpable in the deaths of the nine other victims that you arranged" Humphries smiled and shrugged before responding, ignoring me to look to the cameras.

"The ends more than justify the means Cabot, that's nine gang members that won't be on the streets anymore" Humphries moved in her seat and looked to the jury. "They were vicious street punks, the Muerte were well known for their history of violent crime while the Barrio Bangers had a big rep for gun running, bringing in the weapons that the gangs use to terrorise the streets" She smiled and looked back at me. "Where the hell do you think the AKs they were using came from?" I dragged us away from her justifications and back to the point

"You claim that the nine dead deserved it because they were dangerous gang members, what about the young women you gunned down in their homes, were they dangerous too?" Humphries obviously didn't give a damn, as her next words proved.

"They were part of the gangs too Cabot, they weren't innocent victims so stop trying to make them out as ones; both of them had gang tats and were the gang leader's sluts so stop suggesting they were angels, they were as much a part of the same street gangs as the others were" I shook my head.

"So in your view the end justifies the means, no matter how many die?" I stated, getting a smile from her.

"Yeah, that's eleven fewer gang members on the streets, thanks to me" I turned to the jury, appalled. For a moment I paused as I dealt with the truth about Humphries, she was a truly amoral psychopath.

 **Boston BPD Division 1 Homicide**

"That woman is a mental case" At Frost's brutally accurate summation Riley Cooper nodded.

"Totally" She grimaced. "She's playing to the jury and the cameras as a vigilante but she's a self-centered, self-absorbed psycho, it's all about her and screw everyone else"

"Doesn't matter" It was Korsak. "Those ADA's out there are going to send her to jail for the rest of whatever's left of her bitter and twisted life" He smiled coldly. "Let Humphries enjoy her moment in the spotlight, her 15 minutes are just about up and she'll be packed off to die, unremembered and unremarked, in prison" He shrugged. "Unless someone shanks her first" He looked from Frost to Cooper. "Live by the sword, die by the sword" Cooper nodded as Frost replied.

"Amen"

 **In Court**

I turned to the jury, sitting there watching us.

"Ladies and gentlemen, the witness is not denying their culpability, far from it. Instead they are reveling in their role in the deaths of so many and their hand in attempting to kill her fellow law enforcement members" Humphries chipped in at that.

"They were trying to stop me from dealing with the scum on the street Cabot, you keep leaving that bit out" She shook her head, a mirthless smile on her face. "Sorry if that doesn't fit your narrative Cabot but that's the truth" I shook my head and set myself, facing the jury and one of the cameras, two could play that game.

"It is obvious in the words of the witness herself, she has no remorse for any of the deaths she was responsible for, not the criminals she killed, the police and security people she tried to have assassinated or the young women she so callously murdered" I shook my head slowly. "She is apparently totally without remorse for her action, instead demonstrating a complete lack of moral centre, living in her own world where the ends justify the means, no matter who dies"

"I was effective Cabot, I took criminal scum off the street permanently, something the LAPD wasn't" At Humphries commentary I shook my head without looking at her, continuing to address the jury.

"And that apparently justified repeated attempts to have your fellow officers killed" Humphries couldn't leave that alone.

"Like I told you, they weren't real cops, not like me" At that I smiled, I let a cruel smile out and turned to face her.

"Yes, I suppose you're correct. They're nothing like you, in every respect. They don't murder people for drugs, or cartel money, they don't pay street gangers to kill people they deem a threat and they don't kill young women just because they have something that you want" I shook my head slowly. "Yes, those officers are nothing like you, but in one thing they're not just different from you but better, far, far better"

"Like hell they are" At her interjection I removed my glasses, holding them in one hand as I spoke.

"For all your supposed intelligence and cunning, your subterfuges and experience, you proved to be no match for them"

"Bullshit!" I gave her my best mocking smile.

"They caught you"


	16. Chapter 16

**Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 16** **– Retribution**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

It was the fifth day of Humphries' testimony and I was intent on bringing down the curtain on her turn in the spotlight, I'd had enough of her posturing and it couldn't come soon enough.

"Let's talk about your habit of murdering people, oh I'm sorry; what was the term you preferred?" I smiled nastily. "Oh that's right, dispensing justice"

 **New York 1PP**

In her office Casey Novak sat back, rested her elbows on her chair's arms and interlaced her fingers in front of her, a smile gracing her lips.

She'd worked enough prosecutions with Alex that she could tell when Alex was about to unleash on a witness or suspect; it looked like Humphries turn had finally arrived and given the circumstances Casey couldn't have asked for a more deserving target. She leaned back and nodded slowly.

"Give her hell Alex"

 **In Court**

I looked Humphries over, today she was wearing a dramatic black and white skirt suit with matching pumps that certainly matched her world view, she might have been a psychopath but I had to admire her sense of style, she knew how to dress to impress if nothing else. Idly I wondered if that was where the money from Sinaloa had gone before dismissing the irrelevancy and getting back to the case, cheerfully noting her dark frown at the way I'd kicked us off this morning.

"Let's for the moment put to one side those people that a Mexican drug cartel paid you to kill, for the moment anyway, and those two young women you murdered to retrieve the money you had paid to have fellow officers killed, instead let's look at those other people you 'dispensed justice' to" I put it in finger quotes, seeing Humphries eyes narrow as I mocked her." Your comments here in court have helped the LAPD better understand a series of previously unsolved crimes" I looked over at Andrea who was running the laptop. As I read a series of names off a sheet of paper she called up each image on screen, revealing their DMV photos, more than a dozen victims, eleven men and three women.

"Each of these people had three things in common; they were drug dealers, you were responsible for their deaths and each had their cocaine supplies stolen when you killed them, is that not true?" Humphries shook her head.

"They were criminals, preying on their victims, as a vigilante I preyed on them" I raised an eyebrow, one hand resting on my hip as I swept my hand towards the images on the big television screen.

"You weren't some vigilante looking for justice though were you? If you were, an unlikely suggestion at the best of times, then you would have 'preyed'…" I emphasised the word. "…on criminals of all kinds, murderers, rapists, child molesters and the like, but you didn't, did you?" I glanced at the jury, seeing them following my words closely, even the two I'd tagged as possibly sympathetic to Humphries' 'vigilante' claims. "Instead you restricted your homicidal activities to two types of criminal, those you were paid to kill and those who had what you wanted, which was cocaine"

"Like I said Cabot, I was taking the worst of the dealers off the street" she stated, drawing a shake of my head as I demolished that argument.

"I think not, rather you were just an addict looking for a fix who decided that killing dealers to get it was cheaper and easier than paying for it, so you killed them for your next fix"

"Objection Your Honour" It was Humphries' public defender. "What relevance does this have to the charges being heard in this court?" I shrugged and turned to Craven, anticipating his question with my answer.

"Your Honour, the defendant seems to believe, well they have consistently asserted anyway, that she acted as a vigilante, that her actions while being paid by Sinaloa were consistent with this worldview" I shook my head for the camera. "The People wish to demonstrate that supposition to not be the case; that in turn involves closer attention to the crimes undertaken and admitted to by the witness in this court" I held my hands out wide. "The witness is not on trial for these additional crimes, that is true, however those crimes establish a pattern of behaviour that we believe informs the decisions that she made when acting on behalf of Sinaloa" Craven thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded before looking at Humphries' defender, Peter Bentley I'd learned his name was, and turning him down.

"Objection denied. Prosecution, continue"

"Thank you Your Honour" I looked back at Humphries. "So you selected drug dealers, very specific drug dealers in fact, those who sold cocaine and who were operating in locations where you could safely hunt them down, kill them and take their cocaine, not to 'dispense justice'…" I put it in finger quotes, openly mocking her. "…but to ensure your regular fixes continued without the bother of actually paying for them" I raised an eyebrow at her. "That is what you did…isn't it?" Humphries scowled at me but I ignored her. "So let's not have any further talk of dispensing justice shall we?"

 **New York State Supreme Court Building**

In her chambers Judge Liz Donnelly sat back with a satisfied smile, she knew Alex Cabot well enough to recognise the oncoming avalanche that was about to descend on Humphries head and this was going to be well worth watching.

Humphries had been soaking up the limelight for days now; the woman was an obvious attention-seeker and the focus on her as she gave evidence had made her overconfident.

Now though Cabot was going to bury Humphries deep and her so-called vigilante posturing's along with it and, quite frankly, Liz couldn't wait to see it.

 **In Court**

I turned to the jury, looking them over and then starting again.

"Thanks to the statements of the witness over the past few days, the LAPD has managed to identify these people as being victims of the witness" I turned back to the screen where a composite image of all the victim's was visible; Buzz had done a great job in a really short space of time pulling all the images together and resizing them to suit the screen as I made a mental note to particularly thank him.

"Each of these people was killed with the same handguns, one of two separate nine millimetre pistols; the ballistics of which match the Beretta and SIG pistols which were retrieved by investigating LAPD officers from a safety deposit box held in Miss Humphries' name and which bore the witnesses' fingerprints. In addition each of the witnesses' victims was found with their supply of cocaine missing. Given the witness was a cocaine user, there is an extremely high probability, approaching certainty, that the deceased were victims of the defendant" I paused then continued.

"Additional charges amounting to fourteen cases of homicide will be brought against the witness at the conclusion of this trial" I smiled. "Mind you, an ongoing investigation is currently underway to try and connect the witnesses' actions with many further deaths, given they were kind enough to admit to having killed well in excess of forty people, and that is in addition to her activities as a paid assassin for Sinaloa" I shook my head as I turned from the jury to address a scowling Humphries, her jaw clenched in anger as I smiled. "You have been a murderous little psychopath haven't you Miss Humphries?" Her voice was short and clipped with repressed fury.

"That's Detective Humphries, Cabot" I smiled nastily at her as I replied.

"I think not, that is an honoured rank and title that is earned and you have, through your actions, dishonoured that title and proven yourself unworthy of laying claim to it" Humphries sat back, crossing her arms over her chest and staring balefully at me, not that I cared. "Miss Humphries will suffice for now, until it's replaced by a new title, your California Corrections Department prisoner number"

"Watch it Cabot" I smiled a little wider at her growled threat.

"Or what exactly Miss Humphries? I hardly think you're in any position to issue threats, in fact I fully expect that in short order your ability to do anything beyond whatever the prison warders order you to do will vanish like smoke in the wind"

 **New York NYPD Central Crime Lab**

Mack Taylor sat back at his desk and watched the trial, a growing smile on his lips. He'd been waiting to see Cabot unleash on someone and it looked like Humphries was going to be the unfortunate target. He'd spoken to people here in New York's legal profession and they'd all told him that when Cabot let loose, it was something worth watching.

Now thanks to the cable coverage, he had a ringside seat, something he was anticipating with relish.

 **In Court**

"So please, let's have no more idle threats" I spun on my heel to face the jury. "This one is no vigilante, despite her self-serving claims to the contrary, the witness is instead a self-confessed murderer, preying on others for drugs and money to feed her lifestyle and cocaine addiction and a serial-killer with well over 50 deaths on her hands, again self-confessed' Humphries voice came over my shoulder.

"I was taking dealers off the street, doing what the drug squad manifestly wasn't, making sure they couldn't ruin any more lives" I shook my head as I turned to face her.

"And helping yourself to their supply of cocaine as well I note" I shrugged and turned back to the jury. "Miss Humphries here, after her arrest for murder, attempted murder and conspiracy to commit murder, was placed into holding, however within 24 hours of her arrest she began to exhibit psychotic tendencies, symptoms and behaviours consistent with an addict entering withdrawal. Tests undertaken in the prison hospital that she was quickly transferred to revealed that the witness was in fact addicted to cocaine, and in addition to her obvious withdrawal symptoms was showing long term side-effects of the drug" I turned to the bench and continued. "The People wish to submit as evidence the medical report prepared by the California Department of Corrections doctor and the addiction specialists who treated the witness, attesting to the withdrawal symptoms the witness was demonstrating and their findings regarding the evidence of long-term cocaine addiction"

 **New York 1PP**

Sitting in her office Erin Reagan smiled. She knew Cabot casually; they'd met a few times over the years, usually at conferences and branch meetings and the like, though they'd covered different beats. Cabot had spent much of the past few years working SVU, something Erin was happy to leave to her; prosecutions of normal criminals were bad enough, the vile scum SVU dealt with even were worse. Over the years she'd heard the rumours about Cabot's sexuality and her relationship with one of her SVU detectives, rumours now proved beyond doubt here, but she didn't think it determined how you did your job, and sure as hell didn't warrant the excess attention the Defence had been placing on it. Thankfully though that Smithsonian escapee of a judge had finally remembered enough about his job to shut the Defence up about that, even if he'd let them get away with it for too long.

With that out of the way Erin had watched Cabot and Humphries back and forth over the last few days and quite frankly she'd been surprised at Cabot's restraint, honestly she didn't think she'd have put up with Humphries as long as Cabot had, now though it seemed that Cabot was slamming Humphries hard, something that was long overdue.

She picked up her cup and sat back, a smile on her face as she anticipated some quality entertainment.

 **In Court**

Andrea got up and walked a copy over to the bench as I pushed on.

"So no, ladies and gentlemen, the witness was not a vigilante, no matter her self-serving and quite frankly delusional claims to the contrary" I shook my head. "In fact I would describe the witness as a highly functional psychopath, seeing the world only in terms of what she might take from it" I looked her way and shrugged. "So far, to the best of the knowledge of the investigating officers given what they have been able to definitively confirm so far, this witness has taken at least 24 lives in addition to many kilos of cocaine and many tens of thousands of dollars in drug cartel money, all to support her addiction to cocaine and an expensive lifestyle" I glanced Humphries' way once more then back to the jury as Andrea passed me on her way back to her seat, giving me a quick wink and a smile as I nodded and pressed on. "Though I have no doubt many more people died at her hands, given her previous statements, all to feed her ego and her addiction"

"You keep leaving out the fact they were low-life drug-dealing scum Cabot, scum I cleaned off the streets"

"Yes you did, didn't you" I shook my head then turned to the jury. "A very specific target list I have to confess. The witness killed three types of people, those she was paid to, by the Sinaloa drug cartel, at twenty thousand dollars a time, those who had what she wanted, which was cocaine, taken from the dead bodies of drug dealers, and those women unfortunate enough to be in the premises when she came to retrieve the money she had paid street gangs to kill fellow officers"

"That's BS Cabot" I turned to see Humphries shaking her head. The people I killed were dealers and murderous street gangers"

"Leaving aside your convenient forgetfulness when it comes to your attempts to have your fellow officers killed…" I turned back to the jury. "…the witness also conveniently forgets that the people she killed, drug dealers it's true, dealt in only one drug, cocaine. She did not target all drug dealers, those selling heroin, or meth, or ecstasy or any of the myriad of other drugs that are dealt on our streets, oh no" I shook my head. "By a remarkable coincidence, our witness, a cocaine addict herself, only struck at dealers of cocaine, all of whom had two things in common, they were murdered and their supply of cocaine stolen"

"Dealers off the streets Cabot; remember that" I looked over my shoulder to Humphries and shook my head then looked back to the jury.

"What you call vigilantism, the People call first degree homicide, but you already knew that didn't you Miss Humphries, you murdered those people so you could steal their stash of cocaine, a cheap fix, is that all they were to you?"

"Criminal scum was what they were" Looking at Humphries again I saw her with a slight smile on her face, almost as if she was pleased with the back and forth between us, maybe she thought it reinforced her vigilante credentials, maybe for other reasons. After all the media had been featuring her heavily in the trial coverage and her imagery was all over the news, particularly given the clothes she'd been wearing; for the attention-whore she was turning out to be she probably considered this all a more than satisfactory result.

As Maura had commented over a coffee last night, Humphries had no doubt determined that, based on the overwhelming evidence against her and her co-conspirators, she was going to pay for her crimes so she had obviously determined that the focus and spotlight would be on her, heaven knows the woman had milked the spotlight for every possible moment, something that had irked me to no end. Now though her 15 minutes of fame were going to come to an abrupt end. I shrugged at her and turned back to the jury.

"Given some of the statements the witness has made, it appears there was an element of thrill-killing involved in her actions, certainly she passed up opportunities to quickly and cleanly kill her victims, instead choosing to demonstrate her own cleverness and bravado through her choice of method of killing those who crossed her path" I looked to Humphries, seeing her staring watchfully back at me through hooded eyes as I continued.

"Poison in a drink at the bar, seducing and accompanying victims back to their home so that she could kill them with their own weapons, stabbing a victim through the heart, garrotting a woman in a public toilet, sitting next to them in a car and shooting them in the head, it seems the witness was driven to kill her victims in a manner that demonstrated, in her own twisted worldview, that she was smarter and more deadly than those who she murdered, or those police investigating her crimes"

 **Quantico Federal Bureau of Investigations Behavioural Analysis Unit**

"Not a bad summation actually" Jennifer Jareau turned at Emily's words and nodded.

"Simplistic, but effective" She pulled a face. "Definitely psychopathic personality, I'd like to get a copy of the LAPD psyche profile, both the one done when she entered the academy and a more recent one, look to see any patterns of behaviour that might establish a baseline" Emily nodded.

"Not a bad idea, maybe help develop a tighter screening process for police departments generally" She paused then continued. "Be interesting to see what family environment she grew up with"

"I might ask Ana if we can get copies" Emily grinned at Jennifer's comments.

"Just make sure that's all you want from Ana, we don't need her fiancée getting all territorial again" Emily took a certain, slightly malicious amusement in reminding JJ that Ana and Natalie were engaged, something neither had known before Natalie had made that clear to a nationwide audience. Jennifer shrugged airily, unconcerned.

"I have no idea what you're talking about" Emily's laughter was quick, as was her retort.

"Keep telling yourself that girl, denial ain't just a river in Egypt"

"Say what?" Smiling at having got a rise from Jennifer, Emily waved back at the television.

"You heard me, anyway, be that as it may, this one's not killing anymore victims" They shared a look and a smile at that.

 **In Court**

"The witness, Humphries, has betrayed her oaths to the Los Angeles Police Department, turned upon her fellow officers and upon the citizens of this city, contemptuously killing those whom either stood in her way, had something she wanted or in some way threatened her lifestyle" I raised an arm and pointed at Humphries in the box. "At least 24 dead confirmed so far and it was only by their skill and training and some good luck that a dozen more did not join that number in the targeted attacks and ambush that she orchestrated and paid for" I dropped my arm and faced the jury. "No vigilante, this woman is a remorseless murderer, an unrepentant serial killer and a desperate cocaine addict, one that stands before you and piously proclaims that she is misunderstood" I shook my head. "The only issue here is that, unfortunately for her, we understand her and her motives all too well"

 **Washington DC**

Serena Southerly picked up her cell, barely flicking a glance at the caller ID before answering as she watched the trial.

"Hi Abbie" Her friend's voice came through clearly from her office in the Attorney General's building.

"Hey Serena, are you watching the trial? Cabot's going off" Serena nodded as a smile spread.

"Oh hell yeah, it looks like she's on a roll, this could be one of her epic ones"

"Not before time, that blonde bitch has had it coming" Abbie said, drawing a wider smile from Serena.

"And we get to watch it live, life's good" At her words Abbie couldn't help but agree.

"It sure as hell is"

 **In Court**

I looked from one juror to the next and the next, making eye contact with each then continued.

"Julia Humphries is a remorseless and cold-blooded psychopath whose only crime, in her eyes, is that she got caught" I turned to face Humphries, seeing the rising anger in her eyes and smiled mockingly at her as I continued. "She has played the femme fatale, the vigilante, and even tried to purport to be the victim here but we know the real victims, some 24 of them at least so far. The only role she will play from now on, is one as a prisoner on death row for the rest of her life, a role she is entirely well-suited for"

"Bullshit Cabot" I shrugged, ignoring Humphries' outburst as I tipped my head to regard her as I continued.

"The witness may claim to acting out of some sort of vigilante impulse but we know better" I turned back to the jury. "She callously slew anyone who crossed her path that had what she wanted, money, cocaine or a price on their head. She was pitiless, even killing a young mother as her baby lay in a crib nearby, stole what she wanted and walked out, leaving the child, now orphaned at her hand, helpless and alone. In fact if it not been for the chance arrival of investigating officers, that baby would have starved to death, dying alone with only her dead mother to bear silent witness" I watched the jury almost as one turn to look at Humphries, their faces hardening at that pertinent reminder as I pushed on.

"The evidence and the witnesses own testimony have made it clear that she is not only incapable of remorse but clearly beyond redemption" I paused, looking from the jury to the camera's and back again, making them wait on me. "The witness is a coldly calculating killer; she has laid claim to having slain dozens and made it clear she would have continued to murder people for years to come, hiding behind the veneer of respectability she received as a police officer" I shook my head. "The witness is a murderous psychopath, by her own admission"

"Fuck you Cabot!" Humphries was leaning forward in the witness box, her voice rising in anger. "I don't give a shit what you say or do; I'll find you and fuck you up!" I gave her a mocking smile as I replied.

"Just like you did Shaylene Phillips and Cristina Rocha, walk in and shoot me dead like you did them?" I shook my head. "Or will you poison my drink with cyanide as you did to Carlos Serrano or perhaps strangle me with a garrotte and leave me sprawled dead in a nightclub toilet cubicle like you did Liliana Flores? I don't think so Miss Humphries" Humphries was working up a good head of steam and anger.

"You'll end up dead you bitch, dead like them, like everyone else who's crossed me, you fucking hear me, dead!" I shook my head at her ravings.

"I think not, you will kill no one else, not from where you will end up"

"You think you can hide from me?" she snarled, drawing a shrug from me, unconcerned by her threats; after all it wasn't like I hadn't been threatened by criminals before.

"Not at all, in fact I won't have to, given that you will spend the rest of your life in jail for the cold-blooded murder of at least 24 people, to fester and rot with no hope of parole, so your threats mean nothing, not to me, not to anyone" I smiled happily, for the moment unconcerned if the jury and audience here and across the nation saw it. "I, together with the rest of our civilised society, will be on one side of the bars and you will be on the other, locked away from those you would threaten" I stood in the middle of the court, where the jury, Craven, Humphries and equally importantly, the cameras, could see and hear everything I was saying.

"You will remain there, caged like the vicious animal you have proven to be, for the term of your natural life. Securely locked in a place where you cannot kill people, given you calmly state you have killed dozens of people in cold blood and then make the self-serving claim that you were doing society a favour, when in fact you were simply feeding your habit and attempting to claim the ends justified the means" I shook my head as I continued, noting Humphries face darkening with unconstrained rage. "You are an atavistic throwback to a dark time, when might made right and the brutal, the callous and the uncaring held sway over the population" I shook my head again and pressed on. "We, well most of us anyway, have left those dark times where they belong, in the history books, the dark ages, the inquisition, the dark times of the Communist revolutions and the Nazi state, when the callous and unhinged preyed on the people, taking what they desired without pity or remorse" I rounded on the jury, pointing at Humphries. "This woman is a pitiful reminder of those dark times, which the rest of us have left far behind"

"Fuck you too!" I ignored her outburst and kept going.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Central Morgue**

Jane Rizzoli settled back in her chair in Maura's and sipped her coffee, together with Maura they'd been watching the storm descend on Humphries, they'd waited long enough to see her bury Humphries and it looked like it had finally arrived.

"Kick her ass Alex" she murmured, getting a glance from Maura.

"A sentiment I find myself in total agreement with" she said as they exchanged smiles before turning their attention back to the trial coverage.

 **In Court**

"The witness is a self-confessed serial killer and assassin for hire, happy to end lives for cash or cocaine" I looked from one juror to another. "She acted as judge, jury and executioner, not out of some twisted idea of justice, oh no. That is a justification that the witness cooked up for your consumption and the consumption of the people watching this trial, a smokescreen designed to hide the real motivations behind her actions, access to what she considered easy money and easy fixes, paid for in the fresh blood of her victims"

"Criminals Cabot, you keep leaving that out" Humphries angrily interjected, drawing a shrug from me.

"Criminals like Shaylene Phillips and Cristina Rocha? Murdered because they happened to be in possession of something you wanted? Criminals like your fellow law enforcement officers, because they were investigating your crimes, I don't think so…Miss Humphries"

"You don't have a fucking clue what you're raving on about Cabot" At her interjection I turned my head to look over my shoulder at Humphries.

"I know that you are guilty of murder, repeatedly. I know that you will kill no more. I know that you will spend the rest of your life waiting for the state to reinstate the death penalty, which given that is not likely at this time, means you will die of old age in prison, unable to kill any more as you have so many others" I looked back at the jury. "The witness here is 32, assuming she lives to 80, not unlikely in custody, that equates to just two years jail for each of her dead victims, the ones we know of at least. Hardly a fair and equitable sentence but it's the best we can do, even if it is far better than she deserves" I shook my head.

"Even double that is inadequate, but by then she will be answering to a higher authority for her crimes, though I rather suspect her final destination lies somewhere else" I looked back at the jury and made a swiping away gesture.

"Until she burns in hell, let her rot in a cell"

 **New York NYPD 16** **th** **Precinct**

There was quiet jubilation in the 16th Precinct's SVU as Finn smacked one meaty fist into another.

"Boom, headshot, mic drop, walk away" Finn crowed as Munch let a wintery smile spread across his face then looked to Amaro and Rollins as he spoke.

"Now that's what I'm talking about" He looked back at the screen and smiled a little wider as Finn backed him up.

"That's my girl" Hearing Finn's words Amaro nodded slowly

"Fuck yeah"

 **In Court**

Humphries sprang to her feet, shaking her fist at me.

"Fuck you, you stuck up dyke cunt! Fuck you all!" Craven started banging his gavel, calling for order over and over as the two County Sheriff's Deputy's headed towards Humphries who was already moving to get out of the witness stand, I noticed both Liv and Mikki moving as well, I spotted Liv vaulting the barrier into the court, moving to get between her and me. The deputy's got to Humphries first, blocking her from going anywhere, or at least they tried, as the first one reached for her he got a fist in the throat, sending him reeling, choking and coughing. The second deputy grabbed for her taser but got a vicious swipe across the face from Humphries', fingernails opening her face up as blood flew, she fell back, hands to her face, leaving Humphries with a clear path to me, so or she thought until Liv's familiar and welcome presence appeared between us and spoke, the menace in it easily heard.

"You want her, you're going to have to go through me" Humphries shook her head, her eyes fixed on me as she stalked my way even as another voice came from my right.

"And me" It was Mikki, walking into view with her pistol held aimed in both hands as Humphries ignored them both in her anger, focusing on me as I heard screams and cries from the jury and audience, her voice still easily heard.

"You're dead Cabot, I'm gonna kill you" Mikki was unimpressed.

"Last chance Humphries, on your knees or I'll shoot" Liv held her hand up.

"Let me handle it Mik" I saw Mikki nod once though her pistol didn't waver. Liv beckoned Humphries forward, her voice calm. "C'mon, you want her, come and get her" Humphries leapt forward, only to run straight into some block, grab, throw martial arts move, it was so quick, one second Humphries was coming for me, the next she was face down on the carpet and scrambling to get up as the crowd gasped.

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

"Oh shit!" Kate ignored Castle's surprised reaction and just nodded at the scene on his 'phablet' with grim satisfaction as she ignored the network's talking head who was excitedly telling everyone what they were already seeing for themselves.

"Kick her ass babe" she said, unconsciously mirroring Jane's earlier comment.

 **In Court**

Humphries scrambled back to her feet then, setting herself, started moving to the right as Liv circled left for a few steps before Humphries dropped and tried to scythe Liv's legs out from under her with a leg sweep, only for Liv to catch the leg in both hands and contemptuously toss her backwards, sending her sprawling as she spoke, brutally mocking Humphries.

"Is that honestly the best you can do? You might as well give up now and save yourself some humiliation on national TV" Liv shook her head, her voice full of contempt. "You're not doing your rep as a ruthless vigilante any good sitting on your ass looking stupid"

I saw her brutal barb sink home as pure unadulterated rage flooded Humphries face, she came up off the floor spitting angry, both hands out in front of her as she lunged at Liv, nails outstretched as she went for her face. Liv barely seemed to move as she waited, one second she was standing there, the next she'd leaned to the left and wrapped Humphries's arm in both hands, then sort of twisted to the right and fell, only Humphries was under Liv when they hit the ground, with one arm trapped underneath her, the other twisted behind her back with Liv pinning her down.

Humphries tried to twist and writhe out of Liv's grasp but even I could see she didn't have a chance; Humphries was fit but Liv was a mass of muscle and training and had leverage, for a few more seconds Humphries tried to escape then paused, breathing heavily before she started screaming obscenities. Liv was unmoved as finally Humphries wound down while Craven banged his gavel and urgently called for more deputies, Humphries staring up at Mikki standing there with her gun in hand and snarled at her.

"Shoot me then, c'mon shoot me, fuck you!" Mikki's smile was almost as cold as her voice.

"And give you a ticket out of the next fifty years behind bars?" she shook her head. "Not a chance perras, you'll serve your time, in jail and in hell" That set Humphries off again as she struggled to get out of Liv's grip, futilely as it turned out, leaving her to scream abuse.

"Fuck you, I'll kill you all you useless fucking cunts…" Holstering her pistol Mikki dropped to her knees next to Liv and pulled out her cuffs; in seconds Humphries was restrained and they dragged her to her feet. I should have said nothing but seeing the mad fury in her eyes I shook my head.

"Attacking well trained, capable officers is nothing like murdering unsuspecting victims in the dark, is it?" She stared at me then shook her head as she started raving.

"I'll find you Cabot, find you and fuck you up, then you won't be so high and fucking mighty" I smiled a little wider as I replied, seeing more County Sheriff's Deputy's piling into the court in response to the alarm and Craven's calls.

"I somehow very much doubt that"

 **Washington DC The Pentagon**

"Nice one" Sarah Mackenzie nodded to herself, admiring Cabot's composure, given she'd had a psycho go after her, though the woman who'd taken Humphries down hadn't been mucking around either, she was obviously strong and well trained.

"Now finish it"

 **In Court**

I stood there impassive, watching her continue to rave as Craven banged his gavel and futilely called for order as Liv turned her over to the fresh deputy's while the injured ones were seen to. Finally she wound down and was moved, well half-dragged really, back into the witness box again though I noted the new deputy's replacing the injured ones didn't move very far away, keeping a watchful eye on her.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

Andy Flynn nodded at the imagery from the court on screen.

"Nice takedown by Benson" He smiled, a little cruelly. "Made it look easy and Humphries a fool too" Khan nodded.

"It is obvious that Sergeant Benson has had very extensive training" Provenza smiled, a little grimly, noting Jane wasn't in the room but keeping his voice down anyway.

"Humphries is lucky it wasn't Rizzoli there, given she sent those gangers after the Doc and then set up the ambush, Rizzoli's still pretty pissed about that; she wouldn't let Humphries get away with anything less than a few broken bones, at the minimum" Khan nodded.

"I understand that she too is very competent" Flynn grinned at that.

"That's an understatement, Rizzoli and Romanov are both shit hot hand to hand fighters and they both despise Humphries, all in all she got off easy from Benson" Provenza looked over at him.

"Maybe, but Cabot's summing up was pretty brutal" Flynn nodded happily.

"That it was, pretty much set Humphries up for life with that one" They all shared satisfied smiles at that.

 **In Court**

"I will have order in my court, is that understood?" Craven looked to Humphries. "Another outburst like that will see you removed from this court and tried in absentia, you will be able to follow proceedings from your cell; do you understand me?" Humphries subsided into a sullen silence as he looked my way. "Prosecution, your witness" I smiled and spoke, all without looking away from Humphries.

"Oh we're well and truly done with this witness Your Honour; we have no more questions for Miss Humphries" I locked eyes with Humphries, seeing the bitter hate there and smiled a little wider for it, taking that as a sign that I'd done my job right. "I don't think she has anything further to add to this case" I let a little insolence drift into my voice. "Though I am sure she will become all too familiar with the inside of court rooms in the future as she stands trial for the 14 other individuals that she murdered that do not form a part of this case"

I saw her temper flare again before spinning on my heel and striding back to sit by Andrea, even as Humphries launched into another foul diatribe, ignoring Craven's attempts to get her back under control as she raved on, before eventually winding down, I exchanged a fist bump and a satisfied smile with Andrea before turning to watch as Craven called on the defence to undertake their cross.

We looked over to the defence table to see Peterson and Bentley exchange a miserable look that said volumes before Bentley shook his head; Peterson nodded and turned to Craven.

"No questions for this witness Your Honour" Craven looked down to Humphries.

"The witness will be returned to their seat" We sat and watched, along with the rest of the court as the Deputy's pulled and dragged her out of the witness stand.

 **Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office**

Kate Murphy sat in her office going over the usual admin paperwork, her mind only half on it as she listened to the case on the television in the corner. She looked up to see two County Sheriff's Deputy's escorting Humphries, still cuffed, from the witness box back to her seat with her public defender.

"Good riddance" Kate muttered, the woman was a disgrace to her badge and the profession. As far as Kate was concerned Humphries could rot in prison till the end of days.

Shaking her head she went back to authorising overtime forms, looking forward to wrapping up and heading home.

 **In Court**

Humphries was escorted back to the table, still cuffed and with a County Sheriff's Deputy gripping each arm, back to where Bentley waited; the poor guy was probably wondering what damage this would have on his own career. If I'd felt charitable I'd have told him that he was on a hiding to nothing, Humphries had determined she was going out in a blaze of glory and nothing he'd said or done could have changed that. I watched as she sat down, noting that Liv was watching her closely from her location behind the barrier separating the audience from the courtroom, close to the Defence tables, just in case Humphries did something really stupid once more.

With Humphries seated and her hands re-cuffed in front of her Craven turned his attention back on us.

"Prosecution, call your next witness" Andrea stood, exchanging a smile and a nod with me before turning to look at Craven.

"Your Honour, that concludes the People's case" Craven peered our way, surprise evident on his face and in his voice.

"Really, I am under the impression…" He lifted a sheet of paper and skimmed it before dropping it on his bench and resuming. "…that you had a number of other witnesses still to be called" Andrea was cool with it, shaking her head with a smile.

"That we did Your Honour, however in light of the quite frankly incredible, illuminating and incriminating testimony from Mister Hernandez, Mister Osmond and particularly Miss Humphries, it is the Prosecution's firm belief that they could add little more to the People's case that has not already been explored at some length" She looked to the jury and her smile widened. "So in the interests of not dragging this case out any longer than absolutely necessary the People rest their case, though naturally we reserve the right to call witnesses should it prove necessary" Craven looked our way for a long moment then nodded.

"So noted" He looked to the Defence. "Defence, your rebuttal" Peterson looked around his team for a moment; they all looked a little nonplussed and then stood.

"Very well Your Honour" He glanced at his tablet then spoke. "As we were not expecting the Prosecution's decision to rest their case so early, we were not planning on calling witnesses this early. We would ask the court's indulgence to request a recess until tomorrow morning when we will have our first witnesses available" Craven thought about that for a bit then looked to Bentley.

"Counsellor, what are your thoughts?" Bentley rose to his feet.

"Your Honour, I support the position of my fellow defence counsel, and would also call for a recess until tomorrow as well" Craven nodded at that.

"That is understandable, therefore the request for recess is granted" He banged his gavel. "Court will resume tomorrow morning at 9 sharp" I looked to Andrea and smiled, getting one in return as we exchanged another fist bump.

"You did a good job out there" she said but I shook my head at that.

"No, we did a nice job out there" I meant every word, we'd got this far on the basis of the hard work of both of us, it'd been a truly joint prosecution. The smile we shared was a happy one as we waited for Mikki and Liv to join us. Tomorrow was another day but I was confident that all of them, Humphries included, were going to be convicted no matter whatever antics the Defence might try.

All in all that made it a pretty damned good day's work.


	17. Chapter 17

**Intersecting Lines – The Trial**

 **Part 17 – A Hopeless Case**

 **In Court**

Alex's viewpoint

The Defence, with nothing much else to work with, had fallen back on trying to establish the 'character' of their clients, not that it'd do them any good in the long run. So they'd called LAPD Chief William Pope to the stand to testify to the fact that he'd awarded Long Service or Good Conduct commendations to Kennedy, Powell and Di Marco over the years as the Defence attempted to suggest that he endorsed their conduct.

"So you awarded Detective Sergeant Kennedy, Detective Powell and Detective Di Marco with a number of commendations over the years they have been with the Department did you not Chief Pope?" Ling asked, getting a brisk nod from Pope.

"That is correct, Good Conduct Commendations for Powell and Di Marco and a Long Service Commendation for Kennedy"

"Good Conduct, obviously the LAPD had no issues with the fine conduct of these officers then?" Pope sat back, speaking calmly.

"There was nothing known at that time to suggest that these commendations were not deserved" Ling nodded.

"You then personally endorsed their conduct as LAPD officers did you not?" Pope shook his head; he'd easily seen where that was heading.

"I did not personally, that was the head of that section, previously Commander Di Francesco and then Commander Taylor" Ling tipped her head to regard him.

"But you signed off on them, does than not naturally include your personal endorsement?" Pope was unequivocal.

"No, the LAPD is over 10,000 officers strong, plus civilian employees, despite my best efforts I do not know each and every one of them by name, let alone their performance and character" He looked to the jury. "Recommendations are submitted by the officer's superiors, evaluated by a panel made up of serving officers and civilians and if endorsed, forwarded to me for approval"

"So you do not endorse the good conduct being demonstrated by the officers receiving commendations from you" Pope was too experienced to fall for something that obvious.

"I endorse the conduct that has been attested to by their commanding officers, I am endorsing their superior's evaluation and recommendations, not the specific officers in question"

"So you don't trust the recommendations of their superiors nor that of the review panel it would appear?" Pope shook his head.

"That is not what I am saying Ms Ling, what I'm saying is that I trust the recommending officers and the review panel to weed out those recommendations that don't stack up and forward to me the ones that do" He tipped his head to regard her. "I endorse their work, trusting that they have done their job properly" Andrea leaned over to me and spoke softly.

"So far he's thrown the officers forwarding the recommendations and the review panel under the bus, I wonder who else is equally expendable?" I turned slightly and half smiled.

"Any and every one necessary to save his worthless hide"

Andrea smiled, a little slyly, and sat back as I remembered everything I'd been told about Pope. He had been a cop once but was now a politician in uniform with an ear to the ground and a finger in the air testing the political winds; he was afraid of adverse media and adverse political reactions to anything he might be seen to do, so he was overly cautious, media-shy and moved with the prevailing political breeze to keep the Mayor's office happy. All in all not a particularly inspiring leader, his primary concern was his own political survival and hanging onto the Chief's office at any cost.

"But you trust the commanding officer, in this case Commander Taylor, do you not?" At Ling's question Pope nodded.

"I did" Ignoring the past tense Ling pressed her point.

"Then do you not trust his instincts regarding these falsely-accused officers?"

"At the time I was not given just cause to doubt Commander Taylor, something that has since changed"

"And why is that?" Pope fixed her with a level gaze and an expression that spoke volumes.

"I would have thought that was more than obvious Ms Ling, given why we're both here today" Ling took it in her stride though.

"Ah, I see, do you often change your opinions on the basis of unproven accusations?" Before he could speak she continued. "Does innocent until proven guilty not apply to your officers?"

"Of course it applies, however Commander Taylor had failed to demonstrate effective leadership of the officers under his command. That failure led to questions being raised regarding his fitness for command" I looked to Andrea and spoke softly.

"Well, there's Taylor under the bus" She smiled and replied equally softly.

"Couldn't happen to a more deserving pain in the ass"

"So do you believe these officers deserved the commendations you personally presented them with Chief Pope?" At Ling's question Pope sat there unmoved.

"Based on the information available at the time, yes" Ling nodded.

"So you endorsed the awarding of these commendations, is that correct?" Pope nodded warily.

"As I said, based on the information available at the time, yes" Ling nodded and glanced to the jury.

"I take it you found these officer's conduct more than satisfactory? I mean you did award them commendations, none of them had received adverse fitness reports; they were exemplary officers were they not?"

"At the time it appeared so, I'd been given no information to the contrary at that time"

"And that remained your position until these unwarranted charges were brought against the defendants by Commander Sharon Raydor" Pope thought about that for a moment, probably looking for how that could be interpreted, then nodded.

"Yes that is correct" Ling nodded slowly.

"Let's talk about Sharon Raydor for a moment" She turned to half-face Pope, half-towards the jury. "You recently promoted Sharon Raydor, did you not?" Pope made a wave away gesture.

"It was more a transfer than a promotion, from Force Investigation to Robbery / Homicide, there was no change in rank"

"A larger, more prestigious role is it not" Pope shook his head.

"Larger, in that it is a larger team, yes, but I would not describe it as more prestigious, Force Investigation is a critical aspect of the Department, one that acts to meet Federal mandates, as such it performs a vital function within the LAPD"

"Why did you promote Sharon Raydor into that role, leading Robbery / Homicide? She had been left in her dead-end role at Force Investigation for years; obviously she was not suitable for promotion in all those years"

"Raydor had managed the role of FID more than effectively over more than a decade, it was a role she was good at, one that not everyone aspires to"

"Yes, it must be hard finding people willing to throw their fellow officers to the wolves to salve public opinion" Pope frowned.

"I would not agree with that description" Andrea stood quickly and spoke up.

"As would I Your Honour" She looked across to the jury. "Force Investigation, as has been previously established, is called in to investigate specific acts, working to meet a federally-mandated timeframe to ascertain what had happened during an Officer Involved Shooting. As previously explained during the Defence's cross of Commander Raydor, the vast majority of OIS-involved officers are cleared and return to duty. Only a small percentage of officers are subject to censure" She looked at Ling. "I find the Defence's suggestion officers are punished to satisfy public opinion to be an insult to the integrity of the LAPD and unsupported by the facts already proven in this court" Craven barely looked our way as he ruled.

"Sustained, another tack counsellor" Ling nodded and tried again.

"As has previously been ascertained Chief Pope, Commander Raydor dragooned Deputy Chief Johnson into her…investigation did she not?"

"I would not categorise it in that way, instead Deputy Chief Johnson was asked to assist Commander Raydor with her investigation, which she did, resulting in the situation we find ourselves in today"

"Yes, we do find ourselves in a situation, don't we Chief, innocent officers accused in an effort to secure a promotion for Raydor" Pope wasn't having a bar of that.

"Innocence is for this court to determine Counsellor, not you or I" Ling nodded slowly.

"You however seemed to have made up your mind though, you relieved Commander Taylor of his job because of her accusations did you not?"

"Commander Taylor was transferred to a new role given the reputational risk that the arrest of six members of his squad entailed. It was determined that given the issues that accompanied having so many of that team arrested and charged entailed, it was better to reconstitute the team afresh"

"And you gave it to Sharon Raydor, did you not" Pope tipped his head to regard Ling.

"It was not 'given' Miss Ling. Commander Raydor was appointed on a temporary basis to head up the newly reconstituted Robbery / Homicide team.

"On a temporary basis you say?" Pope nodded as he replied.

"That is correct" Ling's right eyebrow climbed skyward as she spoke.

"Doesn't show much confidence given it's only temporary"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Robbery / Homicide**

Her cell's ringing dragged Sharon away from her bemused viewing of the trial as she noted who was calling.

"Hi honey" Brenda didn't beat around the bush.

"What's this temporary basis rubbish?" Unconsciously I shook my head.

"I honestly have no idea, it's probably Pope trying to save his miserable skin"

"You were appointed to the role on the usual basis weren't you, same as me and the other senior officers?"

"Yes, the usual performance contract that everyone else is on, I keep the role as long as I keep doing it right, if I don't he can yank me out, the same way he did with Taylor"

"Like that's ever going to happen sweetie" I had to smile at her words and the definitive tone underpinning it, it was so nice to have someone who was so incredibly supportive, not just as a friend, but as so much more.

"I sure try hard to make sure he's got no complaints" I smiled a little. "Same as you, no complaints from you I hope?" The happiness in the reply was evident in her tone as well as her words.

"Not a one sweetie, not a one" The smile I shared with my empty office was only a pale reflection of the joy I felt inside at those words.

"Same here honey"

 **In Court**

Pope had just finished explaining that all of the Department's senior officers, him included, were on performance-based contracts, so Sharon's was nothing special, I could see the jury's eyes glazing over which was probably Pope's intention so Ling moved on.

"Let's turn to Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson and her role in this" Ling turned to face Pope, standing where the jury could see them both. "You appointed Deputy Chief Johnson did you not?"

"That is correct"

"Was this because you had previously been involved with Chief Johnson?" Ling smiled. "Giving a helping hand to a lover?" I was about to say something but Andrea shook her head, making me sit back.

"Not at all, the role needed filling and Chief Johnson was the best candidate"

"So your previous intimate relationship had nothing to do with the decision?" Ling raised an eyebrow and smiled suggestively. "Honestly Chief?" Pope shook his head.

"The decision was made by a five person panel, I made my recommendation, as did the other members of the panel and the decision was carried four to one" Pope shrugged. "Chief Johnson's application was accompanied by very strong letters of support from the CIA, the Washington DC police and the Atlanta Police Department; she was the best, strongest and most qualified candidate, as subsequent events have proven"

"Really, so your previous illicit affair had nothing to do with it then?" Pope had obviously expected the question.

"Chief Johnson and I were very different people than we had been all those years before" He shook his head. "In fact I attended Chief Johnson's marriage several years after her arrival, and was happy to see her happy" He tipped his head to regard Ling. "We may have had a history years before, which some, including you, have tried to use against us, but our relationship has been nothing but that of professional colleagues since her arrival here in Los Angeles"

"So you expect the court to believe that your prior involvement had no bearing on the decision to appoint Brenda Johnson to a very senior role within the LAPD, over so many qualified officers of the LAPD?" Pope's face hardened, as did his voice.

"You, and the court, can believe whatever you choose to believe, but the truth of the matter is that Deputy Chief Johnson was appointed on merit by a majority of the selection panel, in spite of, not because of our history. As a Major with the Atlanta PD, Johnson was only one rank equivalent below Deputy Chief here, so it was hardly an unwarranted step up" Ling went to say something but Pope kept going. "I would have thought that her record of success since her arrival in LA would attest that in this case the decision was the right one"

"So you claim her appointment had nothing to do with keeping an ex-happy, but was a decision made on merit. How then do you explain the reputation that Chief Johnson has amassed during her time here" Pope frowned as his voice showed his annoyance.

"I do not claim her appointment was made on merit, I am stating it was. As for Chief Johnson's reputation, that depends on what you are claiming"

"That she is difficult to work with, ignores protocol and procedures, has an antagonistic relationship with her peers and has been the subject of formal reprimands and complaints"

"Chief Johnson is a highly driven individual, she is focused on closing cases, catching the perpetrators and delivering justice on behalf of the victims and closure to the victim's families" Pope shrugged. "Yes, that drive at times makes her a prickly individual, should you cross swords with her, but her record of achievement speaks for itself"

"So you let her have her way then?" Pope's mouth twisted at one side, his annoyance easily seen.

"I do not let her have her way Miss Ling, I won't lie, Chief Johnson and I have had our share of disagreements over the years, but her success rate in closing difficult cases speaks for itself"

"So you generally support her decisions" Pope thought about that for a moment.

"Not always, but generally, given I know those decisions are made with an eye to solving difficult cases"

"I note that extends to personnel decisions" Pope frowned.

"In what way are you referring to?"

"You let Chief Johnson make decisions about who will and will not be in her squad" Pope shifted position in the seat before replying.

"All the division chiefs all have that power, they need to have a team that they can work with, that can work together and deliver the results, each of the LAPD divisions are different, they all have a different modus operandi and ways of doing things, a different 'vibe' if I could put it that way"

"So Chief Johnson gets to decide who is in her team? And who is not?"

"In consultation with HR and with sign off from me, given that is one of my roles, yes" Pope stated.

"So you signed off on her demand that Commander Russel Taylor be removed from her team, to be publically humiliated"

"Commander Taylor was moved from the deputy position within Major Crimes to head up the Robbery / Homicide division, in fact a promotion" Ling shook her head.

"So it had no basis on the fact the relationship between these two senior officers had broken down"

"I was aware there was tension between them for a number of reasons, managing that tension for the betterment of the department is my job" Pope sat back. "The relationship between them had declined over recent years, rather than let if deteriorate further I appointed Commander Taylor to fill a vacancy leading Robbery / Homicide after the previous head of that team retired" He smiled blandly. "Deputy Chief Johnson endorsed that decision"

"I'm sure she did" Ling took a couple of steps away. "After all, with Commander Taylor gone she could start changing the composition of her team to better reflect her own personal tastes" Pope frowned but remained silent, waiting on Ling to continue. "You must know what I mean Chief, her decision to replace her existing, all male team, with a mostly female team" Pope shook his head.

"I believe you are misrepresenting the situation Miss Ling"

"In what way, did she not force out members of her team, male members, to replace them with female members?"

"As I understand it, the three male members of her team who left Major Crimes did so after gaining promotions, something which Chief Johnson had encouraged them to do. One Lieutenant, a Sergeant and a Detective all received promotions and moved to appropriate positions within other sections"

"And out of Major Crimes, opening their spots for females"

"Two of the officers transferred to Commander Raydor's newly reconstituted Robbery / Homicide squad, partly on the basis of strong recommendations from Deputy Chief Johnson to Commander Raydor. The Lieutenant went to a role with Special Investigations Services and has since been moved into a Captain's role there"

"Those spots were then filled by her friends were they not, women who shared her predilections as it were?" Pope shook his head.

"There were only two new people moved into Major Crimes, one male and one female officer, while an officer previously on temporary secondment to Major Crimes had transferred to the LAPD last year and, given their seniority and experience, had fronted the Promotion Board and been promoted to Sergeant, remaining within Major Crimes to fill the now vacant Sergeant slot there" I nodded slowly, Pope had obviously done his homework, mind you he'd probably expected something along these lines from the Defence.

"And this had nothing to do with her being a close friend of Chief Johnson and her lover?" Pope shrugged.

"As I understand it Miss Ling, Sergeant Rizzoli's credentials and experience have previously been established here in this court, I hardly think it bears repeating by me, I was just happy to learn that we had retained the services of an outstanding officer" Ling chewed her lip for a second then pushed on.

"Chief Johnson showed significant antipathy towards Commander Taylor, did she not? Antipathy that extended to his Robbery / Homicide team, would you not agree" Pope shook his head.

"While Taylor and Johnson had issues with each other, I was not aware of any issues with Commander Taylor's team"

"And Commander Raydor made no secret of her extreme distaste for Commander Taylor and his people either" Pope smiled.

"Commander Taylor had a difficult relationship with many of the Department's female senior officers, both officers and civilians"

"Yes, Johnson's clique of…friends…had made their dislike of Commander Taylor well known" I flicked a glance over to Craven, wondering if he'd intervene but he was sitting back calmly watching.

"I believe you will find most of the senior females in the Department had issues with Commander Taylor, mostly because Taylor had issues with them"

"And you condoned this behaviour?" Pope sat back and shook his head.

"Miss Ling, there's a saying that's appropriate here. "The one consistent thing about all of his failed professional relationships with female colleagues is him" I flicked a glance at Andrea, seeing the smile that she was desperately trying to hide as I shook my head and leaned in.

"And the wheels of the bus go thump, thump, thump, right over Taylor" At my softly spoken comment Andrea's smile appeared, bright as day.

"The street sweepers are going to be busy tonight, given everyone he's thrown under the bus so far" I couldn't help the slight chuckle at that imagery before turning my attention back to Ling who was probing for something she could use.

"But it is fair to say that Major Crimes has developed into its current form as a reflection of Chief Johnson's wishes is it not?"

"As I previously stated, each of the divisions reflects the personality and style of its commander, Major Crimes is no different in that regard than most of the other specialist divisions"

"So the fact that her division is filled with her friends, women who share her predilections, is a clear reflection of her personality"

"It could be seen that way, but I would not describe it in that manner"

"But it's obvious that she's filling her team with her fellow lesbians, her friends, you would have to agree with that description would you not"

"Chief Johnson has led major crimes for almost eight years, in that time she has become close to the members of her squad" Pope stated. "That is evidenced by her determination to have a number of her squad members promoted and transferred to more senior roles, placing their careers over her desire to continue working with them"

"And now filling their positions with her friends, hardly a good result" Pope shook his head.

"You could only make that assertion if you were to overlook the success rate of Major Crimes under Chief Johnson's leadership" Pope suddenly smiled. "Major Crimes' has an outstanding record, something that has continued in the period since the composition of her team has changed"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

Brenda snorted softly to herself as she scribbled Pope's words down, you could be damned certain that she'd be quoting his words back at him during her next performance appraisal, something she was now looking forward to as something other than an ordeal to be endured.

 **In Court**

Pope was busy dodging Ling's attempts to pin him down.

"I do not agree with your supposition Miss Ling, Major Crimes comprises six detectives and one civilian specialist, four men and three women, led by a woman, a gender balanced number, something that many in the community continue to press for, not just in the LAPD but in all walks of life"

"And all the women are lesbians" Pope shrugged unconcernedly before replying.

"What of it? A persons choice of sexual partner is no impediment to their employment" Pope gave Ling a wintery smile. "As I am no doubt certain you are aware, a rather large set of laws on the books support that supposition Miss Ling"

"But you would have to agree that Chief Johnson has a type when it comes to choosing the new people in her squad" Pope sat back and nodded a s he replied..

"I would have to agree with you, given the quality of the detectives in her squad it is obvious that Chief Johnson has an eye for talent" Before Ling could jump in Pope continued. "I believe that Detective Sergeant Rizzoli's competence has been more than proven in this court Miss Ling…" Pope smiled cruelly; mark him down as another who wasn't part of Ling's fan club. "I believe you were cross examining her at the time" He shrugged "Her accomplishments do her great credit and the LAPD is fortunate to count her amongst our members"

 **Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes**

Brenda was busy scribbling down Popes comments; this morning's session was turning out to be the gift that kept on giving. All of his comments, with attribution, would be making their way into her squad's performance appraisals, don't you worry 'bout that.

I **n Court**

Finally admitting defeat, the Defence had let Pope leave, Andrea and I had momentarily debated cross examining him, but our decision, agreed with a couple of glances, was that there was nothing to be gained from doing so, letting Craven know and watching Pope leave, his precious reputation intact.

With him gone the Defence had next called Robbery Homicide's former Commander, Robert Taylor, to the stand, trying to further establish the defendant's record and character, though given everything that had happened in the last few days I wondered why they even bothered. Trying to justify their fees maybe I guessed.

For whatever reason they'd called Taylor, he'd been non-committal, aware he was walking a tightrope, on one hand of being too supportive of accused murderers and on the other of not being in control of his team; he'd basically fallen into a pattern, denying knowing anything about anyone or anything. Cox had settled for getting Taylor to agree with his claims that all six of his former squad had been effective detectives, highlighting some of their successful cases.

As Cox headed back to his seat Craven looked our way and invited us to cross.

I rolled my eyes; not bothering to be too subtle about it either, then looked over at Andrea, keeping my voice down.

"I know he's supposed to be a monumental cretin, but did he have to prove it here?" I got an amused smile from Andrea as she replied.

"You want to destroy him?" I shook my head, as tempting as that might be...

"Nah, as I understand it he's been a complete prick to you and Mikki both so feel free to take him apart" Andrea smiled warmly at me as she stood.

"Thank you counsellor" I returned the smile with all the warmth I could as I held my fist out, it had become a little gesture we did, the media had picked up on it and they'd got into the habit of cutting to us as we did. Together with the regular coin tosses to determine who got to go next it was part of our 'act', helping show the jury, the court and the world that we were comfortable and confident in our case.

"My pleasure counsellor" Andrea stood, bumped fists with me and made her way over towards the centre of the room as Taylor watched her warily, showing some insight for the first time today.

"Commander Taylor, as I understand it you say you had no knowledge of the actions of your subordinates, is that correct?" Taylor looked affronted

"Of course not, how the hell was I supposed to know what they were doing?" Andrea smiled.

"Yes, you knew nothing of what they were doing, that appears painfully obvious" Her smile vanished and her voice sharpened. "You had no idea they were running their own investigations; that they were tracking down supposed anonymous tips, of which no record has been ever found and that they were following up on these so-called anonymous tips and that as a result your officers sitting here in this court room were gunning down innocent people?"

"Objection!" At Peterson's call Andrea smiled and nodded.

"I will rephrase" Turning to Taylor. "So you had no knowledge whatsoever that they were conducting these unsanctioned activities, which in turn led to their appearance here facing murder charges?" Taylor managed to look offended as he spoke.

"Of course I didn't" Andrea smiled, all innocence, her next words belying the innocence as she spread her hands in a 'please explain' gesture.

"Would you please tell the court why not?"

Five minutes later Andrea had made Taylor look like an oblivious fool, incompetent and ignorant of anything whatsoever. The deer in the headlights look he'd worn had amused more than just us if the barely hidden smiles of some of the jurors was any indication.

Andrea's cross examination had ended when she'd explicitly compared him " _...t_ _o Sergeant Shultz from Hogan's Heroes, he sees nothing, he hears nothing, he knows nothing_ ".

By the time she'd finished Taylor looked like he was about to wet his pants; I'd rarely seen a defence witness, let alone a senior officer, so happy to be dismissed, he'd practically fled the room in terror.

 **Los Angeles LAPD Media Centre**

Maura and Natalie looked away from the screen in Natalie's office showing Taylor eagerly exiting the stand, a look of dark satisfaction passing between them before they both smiled smugly and turned back to the enthralling case in front of them.

Unknown to them, much the same expressions could be seen in offices across the Parker Centre belonging to the Department's senior women.

 **In Court**

"Your Honour, the Defence case is complete" I glanced at Andrea and got a raised eyebrow in return. The Defence's attempt to burnish the character of their clients had ended with the calling of the LAPD's head of HR, Candace Morrell.

Candace had been straightforward, up front and unequivocal. No one had any inkling that the suspects were anything other than run-of-the-mill LAPD detectives, not until they'd been arrested. To that point they had appeared to be honest hard-working officers.

Peterson had tried to get her to endorse his client's character but Candace had stuck to the facts, leaving him with not much to work with. Finally Candace had departed after half an hour, the final name on the Defence's witness list.

Craven nodded and looked around the court.

"Given the hour…" It was 4.39 according to the clock on the wall. "…I will adjourn court early, the Prosecution and Defence can deliver their summations first thing tomorrow morning" He tapped his gavel. "Proceedings are now adjourned; we will reconvene at 9am sharp tomorrow" He tapped his gavel again.

"All rise" said the court officer as Craven stood, we watched him leave before I turned to Andrea and smiled.

"Home stretch now" She nodded.

"Finally, I don't know about you but I can't wait to wrap this one up" I smiled happily.

"Amen sister" As we watched the court's officers moved the suspects to a side door where they could spend tonight in holding as they awaited their fate. I hoped their night was anything but restful. I saw Liv and Mikki waiting for us at the gate separating the gallery from the court and smiled happily, then looked at Andrea.

"Let's wrap up, we can end this tomorrow" That drew a happy smile from Andrea.

"Now that counsellor is a direction I'm happy to take" With that we made our way out, looking forward to a good night's sleep and a better day tomorrow. Just before we parted, Andrea smiled. "Don't forget our little 'fuck you' to Craven tomorrow" I grinned happily.

"And miss the expression on his face, Not a chance"


	18. Chapter 18

As always, the characters here are the creation of their respective rights holders and the wonderful actors and actresses who bring them to life for us. Thanks for letting us play with them, if only for a little while.

 **A/N** And with this chapter we bring the curtain down on this sidebar story, at 18 chapters and over 120,000 words you can see why this needed its own story to have the room to be properly told.

I hope you've enjoyed reading it, given it's been a very different story than my usual, with the battles fought with words, not weapons and a lot more 'dense' and wordy per chapter than I normally work with.

Now it's back to intersecting Lines Book 3, with a couple of digressions, given a few other, much smaller, sidebar stories will need to be told as we move through Book 3 and Book 4 before I can put this tale to bed.

There's probably at least one Castle story featuring Kate Beckett, another story with Mazikeen and Chloe Decker from Lucifer, maybe a short JAG/NCIS story featuring Sarah Mackenzie and Leroy Gibbs to come, on top of the usual Intersecting Lines: Possession and Passion and Intersecting Lines: Drabbles stories.

There's still a lot to come, I hope you will be joining me as I return to Intersecting Lines Book 3 and move on there.

Thanks for your time and the positive support and reviews

 **Intersecting Lines** **– The Trial**

 **Part 18** **–** **End Games**

 **In Court**

Anastasia's viewpoint

It was the final day's summation and we were all here; Brenda and Sharon, Maura and Jane and Natalie and I were sitting together in the front row of the gallery, while Liv and Mikki were standing in their usual places at each end of the front row watching over everyone as Andrea hammered home everything that happened, how many were dead and that six people sitting in the public gallery today would be dead too if the actions of the defendants had succeeded. I was aware of Natalie's hand gripping mine tightly and glancing down the row I saw all the other couples were the same, we'd all gone through the mill on the stand, having to relive the attempts on our lives had been hard, the vicious character smears even worse but to finally have the chance for closure was too important to miss. I noticed the television camera's occasionally swinging round to take us in, no doubt looking for our reactions. Finally, after some 30 minutes of summary Andrea closed with a call for a guilty verdict on all counts then turned and waited as Alex stood and made her way over.

I'd noticed when they arrived in court this morning that both of them were wearing well-tailored pants suits, something that was a deliberate choice apparently, a metaphorical middle finger to that old fossil on the bench on the last day of the trial. Nat had conveyed Craven's dark-ages mentality about women's appearances and clothing and it was apparent in light of that info that both blondes had decided to go out with a bang. I hadn't missed Craven's dark scowl when he'd taken in what they were wearing, but frankly I didn't care, especially given both looked fabulous.

Andrea was wearing a tailored grey crimson-pinstripe jacket and pants combined with burgundy pumps and a matching blouse and wearing a gold chain and drop earrings, her colour's easily drawing the eye as she prowled the centre of the court during her summation.

Alex had gone for a tightly-tailored jet black pants and jacket combo, matched with a set of glossy black patent leather platform stiletto's that added at least five inches to her height, the effect was to make her legs seem endless and to make her look both slimmer and taller. She was wearing what to me looked like the same blouse she'd worn on the first day of the trial, all up she looked like a combination of extremely professional and extremely hot, all in one go, something that her choice of a high ponytail, diamond stud earrings and black-rimmed spectacles only reinforced.

When Alex made her way over and took her place by Andrea's side the other blonde smiled and nodded once then turned back to face the jury.

"I would like to thank the members of the jury for your time and your attention. Both Deputy District Attorney Cabot and I appreciate that this trial has been long and difficult, involving at times quite horrible evidence and testimony" She glanced at Alex then continued. "The City of Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office appreciate the time you have given to this trial" Alex nodded then spoke.

"On a more personal note both Andrea and I would like to thank you for your attention, your patience and your time during what has been at times, a very difficult and quite personal trial for our friends and ourselves…" I saw a number of the jury looking our way. "So from us both, and all of our friends, thank you" With that they both nodded and made their way back to their table where they exchanged their little fist-bump and a smile before they sat and turned to watch the Defence try the impossible, to convince the jury that their clients were innocent.

 **New York 1PP**

Casey Novak smiled as she nodded slowly. Alex and Andrea had done everything humanly possible to ensure that the defendant's went to jail, to death row, permanently, it was nothing less than they all deserved. If she was being honest with herself, she doubted she could have done any better, and given the brutally personal slurs made by Peterson and the others against Alex and her friends, she admired both blondes for their cool and tenacity. Not to mention their style, both women had looked stylishly gorgeous right throughout the trial, unlike Humphries, who had looked, in her admittedly biased opinion, at times downright trashy.

She smiled to herself at that comparison and made a mental note to schedule a visit out to LA soon, she'd not been out there in more than a decade and this was a really good reason, after everything that had happened recently, plus this obviously gruelling trial, she wanted to catch up with Alex and Liv in person, to make sure they were both okay.

 **In Court**

With the People's summation done everyone's attention turned to Peterson as he stood, he might be a slimy low life piece of pond scum that I wouldn't spit on if he was on fire but I had to give it to him, he gave it his best shot, the evidence against his clients was well-nigh overwhelming though and he knew it, as did everyone else. Osmond's testimony had been bad, Hernandez's damning beyond measure, but Humphries' dramatic melt down had been the final nails in the coffin, they were going to jail for life, the evidence was incontrovertible. He spoke for almost 35 minutes, doing everything he could to call into question the evidence, the testimony and the witnesses, to the point I saw Craven start to frown at what he was insinuating, before finally wrapping up and making his way back to his seat. Taking in the faces of the jury as an indication, he might as well have saved his breath, as Nat leaned in close and said as much, making me smile.

Craven then ran through the usual summing up of the case and reiterated the jury's responsibilities then sent them out to take as much time as required to deliberate on the evidence and come to their verdict, though I didn't expect there'd be too much time needed, before he stood and left the court as we all rose. We walked to the back of the public area and waited on Alex and Andrea who passed through the gate separating the court proper from the public area where they were met by Mikki and Liv. A number of people stopped them to ask for their autograph or a picture with them, even as I saw Ling and Cox scowling as they made their past towards us. I looked Ling straight in the eyes as she walked towards me, she stared back at me as I smiled coldly, gripping Nat's hand a little tighter as she went to say something. I caught her eye and shook my head gently; we didn't need to say anything, we'd won. Instead I turned back and gave Ling a shit-eating grin, a condescending one from the winners to the losers as she looked away and kept walking.

Andrea and Alex, having wrapped up signing autographs and posing for selfies, joined us and we turned and walked outside, heading out for lunch at a café in a building across the forecourt but still within the court complex. It was only just after 11, a little early for lunch but we had to kill some time somehow and none of us were going anywhere until the verdict was read out.

Unfortunately we'd messed up as the media outside wasn't in their usual position at the outer edge of the court complex, instead they'd moved onto the forecourt of the court building itself for what they'd obviously assumed was the last day of the trial and judging by their mood, they were in a feeding frenzy; there was a huge crowd of them there and before we could backtrack one of them saw us, his team starting moving our way with the reporter already yelling out for us to stop, setting off the rest who turned, spotted us and headed our way, looking for all the world like a pack of baying wolves. I realised we couldn't turn and run, it'd look terrible for the cameras; Nat had taught me that much, speaking of whom she turned to us as the pack approached and spoke quickly.

"Once I distract them, get everyone else the hell out of here" She turned and walked forward slowly, holding up her hand and demanding the media's attention in a loud voice. "I have a statement to deliver, if you will gather round"

For a moment I paused, seeing Nat in her element and on top of her game, her voice loud and clear above the baying chorus of questions as the pack bunched up in front of her, unblinking camera lenses staring at her as arms brandishing microphones with brightly coloured logos were thrust her way. She set herself, hands folded low in front of her, shoulders back and head held high before speaking up, her voice clear.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I will be making a single statement; as the trial has not yet concluded there will be neither further statements nor interview opportunities at this time. I will say this once and once only, so please remember to turn your cameras and recording devices on" She paused for a moment as the media focused in on her and the questions and shouts died down as she stood there confidently, taking them in and nodding then began.

 **New York NYPD Central Crime Lab**

Mack Taylor looked up as the network cut across its usual programming with a 'Breaking Alert" banner, then cut to what was apparently Los Angeles, he recognised the woman there as one of the witnesses in the court case, the blonde who was the LAPD media person.

The ticker across the bottom of the page read "Witsec Trial Statement" as he settled back to watch.

 **Outside Court**

"As you are all aware the jury is considering their verdict as we speak"

The rest of us could see the entire assembled press pack hanging on her words, Nat was cool, collected and obviously in charge, even as we started slowly backing away, disentangling ourselves out of the crowding media throng, taking advantage of Nat's distraction, her calm voice was clearly heard over the sudden quiet.

"The evidence has been presented to the jury who are now deliberating. It is expected that given the overwhelming evidence and the efforts of the prosecution, that a guilty verdict is almost a foregone conclusion and simply a matter of time. The Los Angeles Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are extremely grateful for the efforts of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office in prosecuting this case. Officers of the LAPD and the FBI worked closely together to gather the evidence required to bring this case to court, Deputy District Attorney's Hobbs and Cabot have then taken that compelling evidence and made it as clear as humanly possible to the jury that the accused are guilty on all charges" Natalie looked around at the staring camera lenses as we stopped, a little apart from the crowd but close enough that her voice easily carried to us.

 **New York Daily Mirror**

In the busy Mirror newsroom Andrea Sachs nodded gently at the coverage from Los Angeles, one professional admiring the work of another.

The networks across the country had pretty uniformly cut into their programming for the live cross as Natalie caught and held the media's attention, looking across the bank of televisions tuned to different networks set up across one wall Andrea could see Fox, CNN, MSNBC and the various other networks were all running the same thing from slightly different camera angles.

Andrea had attended innumerable media events and obviously Natalie was a pro at this, her voice clear and easily heard, looking calm, professional and gorgeous in a sky blue jacket and white button down blouse with her hair spilling across her shoulders. Andrea couldn't help but smile a little at her friend even as she started taking notes to update the 'breaking news' section of the Mirror's website.

 **Outside Court**

"A combined effort by these three agencies will see the accused found guilty and sentenced by the justice system appropriately. Their final sentence will be determined by the courts but as you are aware, the prosecution has requested the death penalty" There was a sudden clamor of questions but she patiently waited for it to die down as we watched, ignoring the shouted questions until they stopped before continuing. "While there have been some protests from certain sections of the community regarding that potential sentence, it is the view of the LAPD, the FBI and the District Attorney's Office that seeking this sentence is justified, as is laid out in the California Penal Code under the Special Circumstances provisions of that code, given the nature of the crimes committed or planned by the accused. In particular the number of victims of these rogue officers, not to mention their conspiracy to murder six LAPD and FBI members"

 **Philadelphia Medical Examiner's Office**

Kate Murphy had been working back on budget paperwork but sat back and watched as the blonde woman spoke, summing up what most people watching the trial knew, the suspects were guilty as sin and would spend the rest of their lives on death row, waiting to die one way or the other.

As she watched Kate slowly shook her head, to consider police officers doing such a thing…no, they could all, as that prosecutor Cabot had so brutally put it, burn in hell, the sooner the better.

 **Outside Court**

Natalie looked around the huge throng of journalists and cameras then continued.

"Obviously California no longer carries out the death penalty, so if found guilty the accused will, instead of receiving a lethal injection, instead spend the rest of their natural lives behind bars with no likelihood of release of parole" She took a breath then continued. "While not the result envisioned by the framers of the Special Circumstances provisions of the Criminal code, it is the will of the people, the Government and the courts that capital punishment is no longer carried out in California and our law enforcement agencies are as always, servants of the people, their elected representatives and the judiciary" There were a few shouted questions but she ignored them as she waited for the crowd to calm again.

"Evidence has been tendered that suggests the Sinaloa Cartel planned to have the defendants uncover the identities of the entire LAPD Drug Squad, setting them up to be murdered by Sinaloa, as part of a plan to destroy the LAPD's ability to interfere with the Cartel's aim to flood the Los Angeles market with cocaine. A plan that would have seen the defendants also being tasked to kill police officers at Sinaloa's direction" Natalie paused. "This brings home the danger that the Sinaloa Cartel and others like it represents to our way of life here in America. Combine that threat with the actions of these corrupt and murderous individuals on trial and you can see why the Prosecution has asked for the maximum possible penalty to be imposed"

I could see her shoulders rise as she took a deep breath and looked straight forward at the largest knot of cameras, then spoke, her voice carrying to us over the sudden quiet, calm and clear and certain.

"The accused swore an oath to uphold the law and, in the words of the LAPD creed, to protect and to serve. Instead they turned their back on their oath and that creed, committing the premeditated murder of, in total amongst all the defendants, some 50 members of the public that we are conclusively aware of, and many more besides, as well as attempting the murder of their fellow officers and civilians. That breach of the public's trust, which they, and we, receive as members of the LAPD, plus the betrayal of their fellow officers, cannot and will not go unpunished"

She paused but the media was quiet, sensing she wasn't finished as I saw her there, outlined in a halo of light from the television cameras even as camera flashes flickered incessantly like heat lightning on a hot summer night in the tropics. To her credit Nat wasn't fazed at all, staying calm and composed when I would have been petrified in her place.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Brenda waving a group of uniformed officers this way as Nat started again.

 **New York The offices of Runway Magazine**

Miranda Priestly sat back and watched Natalie as she spoke, her eyes narrowed as she took in the woman's poise and gravitas, then came to a decision. There would be another 'Women of Law Enforcement' article next year, given how well the last issue had sold that was without doubt, something that Andrea had teasingly taken credit for several times since, not that Miranda minded, a happily playful Andrea was a truly wonderful Andrea, in her admittedly biased opinion, and she had been very grateful to Miranda in turn, making that obvious repeatedly since...

Given the success of the article and the favourable media and social media coverage it had generated, Miranda had determined that Alex and the other women, their friends, who had eluded her grasp this time; Anastasia, Jane, Kate, Olivia and of course Natalie here, would not do so next time. No, all of them would make suitably photogenic subjects, and they would not escape her again.

 **Los Angeles**

"Their actions bring into disrepute the professionalism, hard work, dedication and sacrifice of the more than 10,000 men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department and by association, every other law enforcement agency in the country. The trust the public bestows upon us is precious, hard-earned and fragile; the actions of the defendants are a stain on all our reputations, one that must be cleansed if the public is to continue to honour us with their trust"

Natalie looked around the camera's, undeterred by the continuous flash of the cameras, the click of shutters and the unblinking stare of the news cameras, beaming her words out live across the nation and around the world.

 **Washington DC Navy Yard**

Standing with a coffee in his hand Leroy Gibbs nodded to himself. He'd wondered exactly what someone like Romanov had seen in her partner, besides the obvious good looks. He knew Romanov, given her own looks, could have had almost anyone, so there had to be something more besides the blonde's beauty at play here.

He was seeing it now, this woman, Dearing, had a fire and a presence he could feel even from the far side of the country, she was passionate about what she was saying and that passion made its way through the screen undiminished. He nodded to himself, already scheduling his work trip out to California and planning to take advantage of Romanov's invitation to visit.

He raised his cup in silent salute to them both and smiled, just for a second, that Romanov had found someone worthy of her.

 **Outside Court**

"Every day countless brave men and women across this country don the uniform of their police force, sheriff's department or federal agency such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They willingly place themselves on the front line and in danger to protect us all" Natalie looked around the cameras once more, her expression as serious as I'd ever seen then returned to facing the largest grouping in front of her.

"They do so because they have sworn an oath to serve and protect their community, an obligation that is a grave burden, a shockingly heavy one that claims the lives of far too many officers every year".

 **Los Angeles LAPD Hollywood Division**

"She speaks very well detective" Chloe Decker turned from the television set up in the squad room to take in her civilian consultant Lucifer Morningstar then responded succinctly, her voice harsh.

"She's speaking the truth" Seeing the fierceness in his partner's eyes, and remembering she had lost her father, a police officer himself, on the job, he just nodded, uncharacteristically silent.

 **Outside Court**

I felt a little shiver at her words, so calmly delivered and all the more potent because of it as Nat took a breath then pressed on.

"In return these officers receive the trust and admiration of their community, given because it has been well and truly earned. When we are in trouble, what do we do? Instinctively we know to call 911, knowing that help will be soon at hand, no matter what the danger the police will come, because we need them to and they have sworn an oath to protect and to serve all of us, wherever we may be and whatever the danger"

 **New York NYPD 16** **th** **Precinct**

The 16th SVU was silent as they watched the blonde woman on the screen speaking. Over her shoulder they could see both Liv and Alex standing in a knot of their friends as the woman laid out the case for sending those crooked cops to death row.

"Damn straight" Fin muttered at her comment about turning to cops for help, as others in the room nodded. Munch looked a little pensive before speaking.

"Listen to her kids, that one gets us, I mean really gets us" There were more nods as everyone's attention remained on the screen.

 **Outside Court**

Nat carefully looked around the media once again then continued.

"What do we tell our children if they get lost or get into trouble? We tell them to seek out a police officer, trusting to those uniformed men and women to protect us and our families, even though it places their own lives at peril. That trust was earned…hard earned…with the blood and sacrifice of far too many policemen and women's lives across this nation"

Nat shook her head once, slowly, ignoring a few shouted questions before speaking again as the media quieted down.

 **New York NYPD 12** **th** **Precinct**

They were getting ready to wrap up for the day when the cable news had crossed live to Natalie's speech, now everyone in the 12th's bullpen from Captain Gates on down was watching quietly.

"Natalie sure has a way with words" At Castle's comment Kate nodded and smiled

"It's her job and she's damned good at it" Ann Hastings turned and shushed them as Nat started speaking again, drawing a smile from them both.

 **Outside Court**

"The six accused in this case not only abused that trust, they have stained the sterling reputations of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who proudly wear the badge of our law enforcement organisation's, right across the length and breadth of this country. They are the heroes who protect us from unspeakable evil and unexpected danger, something they do willingly and we as a society are immeasurably richer for their commitment and honour" Nat shook her head slowly then continued.

"These disgraced former officers have betrayed the public's trust and undermined the community's support for their local police officers, those men and women who place their lives on the line day in and day out, so that we may go about our lives safely" Her jaw firmed as her voice hardened. "The accused should be found guilty, convicted and sentenced soon, a small step on the path to undo the damage these soon-to-be-convicted criminals have done to the sterling reputation of law enforcement organisation's and officers across this country"

 **Miami MDPD Crime Lab**

"Damn straight" At Cain's words Calleigh Duquesne turned to see her boss standing in the doorway, looking to the screen in the corner of the room. Raising an eyebrow she took in his intense stare at the screen and nodded. Horatio hated bent cops and those weren't just bent, they were irrevocably broken.

"They're going away forever Horatio" she said quietly, drawing a softer glance and a small nod as he replied.

"So they damn well should"

 **Outside Court**

Nat shrugged slightly then spoke again, her voice slightly reflective.

"Speaking personally as one of their potential victims, I look forward to a verdict of guilty on every single charge, followed by the maximum sentence possible. Only in this way will justice be served and a small step be taken in regaining the public trust in law enforcement that these six have so callously and criminally endangered"

 **Las Vegas LVPD Central Crime Lab**

Catherine Willows and Ray Langstrom exchanged a glance as they watched the breaking news segment on television, seeing the title underneath 'Verdict Imminent".

"Can't say I disagree" At Catherine's pithy summation Ray nodded as he replied.

"Anything other than a guilty on all counts verdict would be a travesty, something I can't see happening here" Catherine nodded once.

"Good"

 **Outside Court**

She stopped and there was silence for a few seconds before the pack started baying questions, shouting over each other to be heard as Nat ignored them, finally holding up her hand, ignoring the questions and waiting until there was quiet before speaking again.

"A verdict from the jury is expected later this afternoon or, less likely, given the overwhelming evidence presented to the jury, early tomorrow morning, at which time there will be a further statement. Thank you for your time and good day" Ignoring their questions she turned to where I was waiting with a half dozen uniformed LAPD and court officers standing with me, behind the uniformed line the others were waiting for us.

As she walked towards me two of the cops standing there nodded in acknowledgement and quite possibly respect as she passed through them, getting a nod and a lovely smile in return even as the media started after her, before the officers stopped them. I reached out and linked my hand with Nat's.

"Wow" I said, trying to keep the wonder and admiration in my voice under control. "That speech…" She smiled a little shyly as we turned and headed towards the others.

"That was kind of everything you, Jane and Liv have ever told me about why you do what you do and what it means" I smiled and nodded, proud as hell of her all over again.

"You did good Blondie" The smile I got lit up my day, drawing smiles from the others as we joined them before Jane glanced at the media behind the police line and grimaced.

"Let's get the hell away from here"

 **Boston BPD Division 1 Homicide**

"Damn" Frost looked around the quiet BRIC. "Kinda sums it all up really" Riley Cooper nodded once.

"That woman knows how to deliver a message" She glanced at Frost. "Wish we had her here" They exchanged a resigned look; the head of the Boston PD's media unit was there because he was skilled at saying no comment a dozen times without using the same words twice, but inspiring he wasn't.

"I'll bet that's not the only thing she's good at" They both rolled their eyes at the all-too-familiar voice of Detective Darren Crowe before Riley turned.

"Is there literally nothing else you think of Crowe?" she asked, getting a shrug in return.

"She's a shit hot piece of ass, what's not to like?" Riley shook her head.

"She's a fellow law enforcement professional, one whose job put her in the firing line, apparently engaged to a Bureau agent, she just delivered a hell of a speech about who we are, what we do and why it's important and all you can think of is your dick?" Cooper looked disgusted. "You're pathetic Crowe" The bald detective grinned at her, unrepentant.

"I calls em as I sees em Cooper" Frost stepped in.

"You're gonna have to excuse Crowe, it's been so long since he got any he didn't have to pay for that the sight of a pretty woman gets him overly excited" He threw Crowe a shit eating grin. "He probably needs to go take care of that problem" he turned his head and threw Riley a surreptitious wink before continuing. "Y'know, he just needs some…me…time"

"Fuck you Frost" Barry smiled a little wider, Crowe was just so predictable.

"Thanks for the offer Crowe, but I stick to humans, besides, I wouldn't want to come between you and your first love" At Crowe's confused look Frost and Cooper both held up a hand and curled their fingers and thumb over into a tube, bursting into laughter as Crowe's face reddened.

 **In Court**

Olivia's viewpoint

"All Rise" At the call everyone stood as Craven entered before being told to resume their seats as we waited, though as far as I was concerned there wasn't a way in hell the jury wouldn't convict, the evidence was irrefutable. Besides, they'd deliberated for less than two hours, a pretty sure sign of a jury with its mind already made up. As stood there I saw Natalie's hand reaching for Ana's, as she took it I saw Nat was also holding Maura's hand who in turn was holding Jane's hand, they, we, were all just a little nervous. Their guilt should be irrefutable but even so…

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?" Craven asked. The middle-aged Asian forewoman of the jury rose and nodded gravely, obviously feeling the importance of her words as every eye, living and electronic, fell on her.

"We have Your Honour" She stood a little taller, maybe all of five foot two in her heels as I smiled to myself, all eyes in the court and, through the cameras, millions across the country and beyond waited, hanging off her words as Craven formally asked the question.

"Madame Forewoman, what is your verdict?" She fiddled with the papers in her hand and the glasses she was wearing before looking up and speaking in a clear voice.

"We find the defendant Gerry Kennedy guilty on each and all of the charges" Kennedy took a deep breath but otherwise appeared unmoved as the forewoman looked up and around then back to her list.

"We find the defendant Aiden Powell guilty on each and all of the charges" Powell closed his eyes, holding himself very still.

"We find the defendant Joan Hammond guilty on each and all of the charges" At the verdict Hammond's face crumpled as she started to cry quietly.

"We find the defendant Anthony Di Marco guilty on each and all of the charges" Di Marco's fists clenched but he didn't let himself react beyond that as she continued.

"We find the defendant Tony Osmond guilty on each and all of the charges" I saw Osmond's head drop and he mumbled something, a prayer maybe.

"We find the defendant Lucas Farrar guilty on each and all of the charges" Farrar just shook his head slowly as we waited.

I wasn't the only one to notice she'd left Humphries to the last, as the whispering started through the audience, surely they couldn't…they couldn't possibly…

"Finally, and after due deliberation, we find the defendant Julia Humphries…" The forewoman looked up and around the court; milking the attention and making us wait that little bit longer before looking down and continuing. "…guilty on each and all of the charges" I saw Humphries silently snarl at that, but the three court officers standing close, plus Mikki and I watching her closely kept her calm as the woman finished. "In summary we find all seven of the accused guilty on each and all of the charges"

The courtroom didn't start cheering, it was more like a sigh and a slight deflation as it relaxed, as if the verdict was an anti-climax, though honestly given the evidence I would have been stunned if they had been found anything other than guilty. Maybe some of the gallery were sad the show was over.

I saw Alex and Andrea shake hands before falling into a restrained hug even as I looked round the room, seeing our friends, Maura and Brenda, Ana and Sharon and Nat and Jane celebrating in a particularly restrained manner, painfully aware of the cameras on them waiting to see any sign of gloating. The no-longer accused, now the convicted, sat there deflated, they must have known the trial was only delaying the inevitable. Joan Hammond was still crying quietly, Osmond had his head down, praying, the others just sat there, though Humphries was now staring at Alex and Andrea with hatred in her eyes, enough so to make me a little alert but she was no risk, not now. The Defence team were silent and grim, though they must have expected the verdict as much as we had. Craven rapped his gavel and called us to order as he spoke.

"Thank you ladies and gentlemen of the jury for discharging your duties in accordance with the law and your conscience, the State of California and the City of Los Angeles thanks you for your time, your patience and your wisdom. You are released from your duty to this court" He rapped his gavel again and looked to the Defence tables.

"The accused, having been found guilty of a number of charges carrying mandatory sentencing under the Special Circumstances sections of the California Penal Code, are hereby sentenced to execution by lethal injection" There was a rising buzz in the court which he stopped with another rap of his gavel. "As the State of California has declared a moratorium on capital punishment at this time, you are hereby remanded into the custody of the California Department of Corrections to be held with no hope of parole until such time as the capital punishment moratorium is lifted or you die of natural causes in custody" He wrapped the gavel again as a number of the County Sheriff's Deputy's arrived in the court through a side door and stood waiting.

"This court is now closed"

"All rise!" It was the court officer; the court as one rose to its feet as Craven stood and turned, walking out of the court, though the defendants, no the convicted criminals now, didn't stand, maybe the result was finally hitting them. I saw the Deputy's walking over to take Kennedy and the others out of the court for the final time.

Looking up I locked eyes with Mikki and we exchanged a silent conversation that said it all; ' _it's over_ '.

I saw Alex standing there and we exchanged a long look that conveyed the same message.

' _It's finally over_ '.


End file.
